MUA Oct 2017 TKR - Hematoma - MUA - Finally past 90!<

[SusieShoes]

Yes, that was my mom’s rehab program. She had her knees replaced in 2002 and 2005 respectively. I was the person who took care of her for two weeks after each surgery. During those two weeks, she did some gentle in bed exercises ordered by her surgeon, but as soon as she could, at around a month, she got on her stationary bike and rocked the pedals. She didn’t do formal PT, just daily activities, a little walking, and her bike, which she gradually got to rotations and used a couple times a day.

I pretty much took a page out of Mom’s book when I blew off most formal PT and used walking as my main rehab. Hey, it worked for her!

Sensible, steady progress is key. Overdoing any exercise can lead to the knee swelling and to pain. Just exercise a little. If it causes no pain later, you can do the same the next day. Maybe you could try just a little more, but see what happens. If it hurts, scale back the exercise. Little by little you work within YOUR knee’s happy zone until you build up to more, pain-free, knee-restoring activity.

 

[funkymuse]

Sensible, steady progress is key. Overdoing any exercise can lead to the knee swelling and to pain. Just exercise a little. If it causes no pain later, you can do the same the next day. Maybe you could try just a little more, but see what happens. If it hurts, scale back the exercise. Little by little you work within YOUR knee’s happy zone until you build up to more, pain-free, knee-restoring activity.

So i'm taking your Mom's prescription and I'm going to use it!!! The only thing different for me will be I have to work every other day - m-w-f so on those days... very little PT.. stretching and some spins on the bike and that's it.

So.. I'm in a pickle. I want to QUIT PT but my surgeon is adamant that I go until I see him on Jan 3 because I'm supposed to be at that magic 120 number. How do I let him know I want to quit and work at my own pace? Should I write him a letter? I can't get him on the phone and his nurse is OLD SCHOOL AND SORT OF STRICT ABOUT IT! Suggestions?!!!!

 

[sistersinhim]

So.. I'm in a pickle. I want to QUIT PT but my surgeon is adamant that I go until I see him on Jan 3 because I'm supposed to be at that magic 120 number.

Don't go. Your OS works for you, you don't work for him. He is being ridiculous. Just stop going to PT. Don't tell him anything.

At my 4 week checkup, my OS gave me a prescription for PT and said I could go anywhere I wanted to. Well, I went nowhere! At my next checkup, my OS wanted to see what I could do, that's all. He never said a word about no report from PT. If he had asked me, I would have told him that I didn't go and wouldn't go now. That I had taken care of my rehab after each of my 11 surgeries.

You are in total control of your knee. No one else. You are responsible for what happens to it. You don't owe anyone any explanation about what you are doing or not doing for your recovery.

 

[funkymuse]

Thank you @sistersinhim ...

I'm going to call my PT guy, who's very nice and tell him what I'm going to do based on being swollen after our session and that I don't feel I can progress with the types of things we are doing and all the trouble in getting there.

 

[kneeper]

Sometimes it's just a matter of us saying, "no" or "not yet" on some of these exercises the PTs want us to do. I think they have their standard lists and if you don't say no, they just go along as planned.
I was able to reduce the number of PT sessions per week by simply saying I would do the exercises at home in between. I didn't do nearly as many as they thought I was.

 

[sistersinhim]

Good for you, funkymuse!

 

[funkymuse]

That cracks me up @kneeper !!! I know.. I cannot DO all they want me to do at home.. it flares up my knee. I know we are not to compare.. but sometimes when I read of all that others are able to do, I feel like... my knee is a big baby because it's so sensitive and flares up at the slightest PT but it obviously wants to go slow and so I must respect that and relax.

 

[Jockette]

Talk about a sensitive knee, did I tell you how mine freaked out when I put knee high stockings on? And they didn’t even touch the knee!!! It felt like sharp spikes sticking into my knee all around it.

 

[jakeleg]

Another thread for me to ditto. I don't do all they tell me at home. I get so swollen after PT, I want to recover so I sure don't want to get swollen on my days off from PT. Does that make sense?

 

[funkymuse]

Another thread for me to ditto. I don't do all they tell me at home. I get so swollen after PT, I want to recover so I sure don't want to get swollen on my days off from PT. Does that make sense?

Totally.. I'm with you on this!

 

[SusieShoes]

I never did the PT exercises at home, and if they asked, I said sure I was doing them. But I didn’t. And I nixed lots of the exercises my PT wanted to do at the facility. Leg press... NO. Weights on ankle... NO. If you want to do outpatient PT, just be the one in charge and say NO to anything you either know will hurt or that does hurt. There’s a big difference between the discomfort of a good stretch and the pain of a knee getting hurt. You’re the only one who experiences that difference, so you have to call the shots.

 

[Tanya76]

Hi @SusieShoes with this method of recovery, when did you start to see progress?

 

[jakeleg]

@SusieShoes I'll bet it was the leg press and squats that did me in. It was my first time and they seemed so easy at first. Hah!

 

[SusieShoes]

I saw progress right away. I began control of my PT in the rehab hospital I went to on day 3. I didn’t let therapists push on my knee. When they moved to try, I put a stop to it. My knees went from 90 flexion in rehab PT to 115 after six weeks of outpatient PT. Progress on any given week, though, was incremental. I saw more improvement, including getting to 0 extension after I stopped PT altogether. The knees are still progressing.

 

[Tanya76]

That’s excellent news @SusieShoes I am almost 5 weeks in and stuck at 45. I have listened to advice on here and am not going to Physio and am icing regularly but no success.

 

[jakeleg]

The physio ears should be burning!

 

[funkymuse]

There's hope for me and all of us! Loving all the posts... thankyou!

 

[funkymuse]

@Robinmhs88 you might be interested in what has been helping me at work. I have some of those flat ice pads and I keep them in the freezer at work and I have some very wide ace bandages that the nurse gave me with velcro. So when I'm at work, I put one of those flat cold pads on my knee and wrap that wide ace around it and I wrap it tight enough so that I can even walk around with it and the ice pad does not fall or slip. The constant coolness on my knee keeps it from swelling massively and makes it feel pretty darn good! They last for about 30 -45 min depending on how cold the freezer is, so I just keep putting them on throughout my work day to make them last the 6 hours I am there. But what a difference! I mean it really helped! On the drive home, my knee got stiff and I'm icing now but I think today is going to be better than most days that I've had to go out and about. My pant legs were wide enough that I could pull my pant leg down over the pad. I wear the support stocking so I just put the pad on top of the stockings. You should give this a try!

 

[sistersinhim]

Wow, that sounds like a really good idea! I'm glad you found something to help you through those work days! I'm sure others will be able to use your discovery!

 

[Robinmhs88]

I am glad you are finding things to help you adjust back to work. . Sometimes my pant legs get stuck on the knee cause it’s swelling so much that co-workers notice . My knee cap does not like anything pushed against it, even when I elevate an ice I have to move the pack above or below my knee cap. I tried it a couple different times plus I had pain where the straps where sitting. I even turned it backwards to ice under my knee but again the straps caused pain. I have been wearing nylons under my pants to help with a compression and swelling while I am at work. It’s a try something new every couple of days till you find something that works.