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

[funkymuse]

Well glad to hear I'm not alone in this!!!! sorry about your regression @Dzina - I'm always wondering why this 'regression' happens.. it's seems we should all continue to make good progress! I'm so careful not to overdo and when i do I'm afraid of that 'regression!'

Yes 'TIME' is a good word and a word that tests my patience!!!

I was also wondering about the feeling like the new knee is going to go out of place? It seems to do that when I have been up and around on it alot and all of the sudden it will jerk and feel like it's going to buckle and take me down to the ground. It's very disconcerting! I know I've read about the need to strengthen the quads but sadly I cannot ride a bike anymore.. it bugs the heck out of my other damaged knee.. so walking is the best I can do and also leg lifts. I hope this will help over time!

 

[jaschembra]

I haven't been on much lately so I jumped right to page 39 and then back to 38 and was thrilled to hear of your flex and that you're doing so much better!! Great news

I too get a little blob above, lateral and my OS early on told me that it was a place that wasn't restricted with tendons or muscles so the swelling liked to pop out there. I also wear a compression sleeve on both knees when I'm doing a special activity like a walk or messing with/riding my horse. I do believe, now that I've reached 18 months, that I don't think about my knee feeling like I might step wrong with it or that it may not support me if I do this or that.... As you've mentioned, the muscles surrounding it are stronger. Yours will continue to get stronger every month. I have begun doing a variety of leg lifts at home just to keep the strength up. I can't do my pool work right now due to some minor eye surgery I had. :(
I tell you all this to let you know how your path will improve.

 

[funkymuse]

Thank you so much @jaschembra for your testimony about the "swelling BLOB" and your journey to more stability. I know many have that story but at times, it helps to read stories about specific issues!

 

[Celle]

I was also wondering about the feeling like the new knee is going to go out of place? It seems to do that when I have been up and around on it alot and all of the sudden it will jerk and feel like it's going to buckle and take me down to the ground. It's very disconcerting! I know I've read about the need to strengthen the quads but sadly I cannot ride a bike anymore.. it bugs the heck out of my other damaged knee.. so walking is the best I can do and also leg lifts. I hope this will help over time!

That feeling that you knee is going to buckle is happening because your muscles are tired. You say it happens after you've been up and about for a while, so it's logical that your muscles are tired. Try to make those up-and-about periods a bit shorter.

Don't worry if you can't use a bike - walking is the best exercise of all for your knees.

 

[funkymuse]

Good Day All.. it's been a bit since I posted so I'm here for an update.
I'm 2 weeks shy of 10 months from my original surgery but as some of you know, I had some bumps and struggle along the way. A 2nd surgery to remove a Hematoma and then an BRUTAL Mua on Feb 8th. 8 weeks after the MUA I finally got to 120... I'm probably a bit beyond that now however my muscles and the knee itself is still tight and stiff more often than not. Also I have weird intense pains that happen when I try to straighten my leg after I've been sitting for awhile.

I'm not sure what these are and I'm tending to not worry much knowing that I'm not at that year mark and that it could be tendons still adjusting and lengthening and/or scar tissue fighting me as I straighten my leg. Also in the knee capsule itself there still feels like there is a blob of something... liquid, swelling.. not sure what but it causes me to wear a compression sleeve for comfort. I hope this goes away over time.. as it's pretty uncomfortable.

Sometimes at night out of the blue, I get awful knee pain - which makes me feel like I must have jerked or bent my leg back to far or forced my leg into some weird position that it didn't like in my sleep and then of course the aching pain. Not sure.. but it's kind of weird - coming out of no where like that.

What I do notice is that my knee likes to be worked (but not too much), and also it likes to stretch in the morning - and my favorite stretch - the one that has helped the most in gaining ROM is too stand facing away from a high chair seat or chair arm, and hook the top of my foot on it, so that my leg is bent up toward my backside and hold. We have those high dining room table chairs and so it's perfect and man what a nice stretch. It's actually the same stretch as when you hook your foot into a strap and gently pull it toward your butt but I always found that position very hard on my lower back. I do this stretch at least 3 times a day if not more.

@hatingthis - I read your post about going back to work at 6 weeks and yes it's way to early. But I had to as well. What I did was get some of those flat ice packs and keep them in the freezer at work and then I would secure them around my knee during the day with a strong ace bandage. Works fabulous for helping with swelling and pain. Also I kept my leg elevated at my desk quite a bit - not sure if you have a desk job or what. It's quite a shaky adjustment going back to work so early.. so I wish you the best.

Hope everyone is doing well and I'd love to hear from some of you!

Blessings...

christina

 

[jboles]

Good to hear from you @funkymuse I'm glad you finally got that bend that we all desire. You sure had a long road to get there. As for the "blob", I'm wondering if that's not fairly common. I have it on both knees. I think it must be swelling popping through, like someone else mentioned. Doesn't hurt, so I don't worry about it.

 

[funkymuse]

Yes @jboles it's kind of hard to believe after all the fear mongering I received and the anxiety I had about it all for months on end - that my bend is finally appearing. It was quite a nightmarish ride but somehow I made it through to the other side. I don't know how really.. except like the more experienced ones on this site say.. "when the swelling goes down, the bend will be there." And.. "you can't force bend a frozen hose." But PT's and OS's don't seem to understand this!!! I just don't get it!

Also my knee still seems to want to go out of place at times.. but again, I notice it when I've been on my leg alot and it's tired... so I guess it's weak. It kind of throws me for a loop and jerks my body weirdly when it happens so my question to everyone is: "Can this new knee joint truly go 'out of place' or is it just slipping?" I'm terrified of it going out of place because that's what my old knee joint did.. but I just don't see how this new knee could possibly go 'out of place!' Any experiences or thoughts on this would be very appreciated!

 

[Hood1980]

@funkymuse so happy to hear you made it to the other side. I follow your story as I had a TKR and MUA a couple months after you, but I won’t make it to the other side, due to a bad tibia cut and unbalanced soft tissues, so I am not the person that can answer your questions, but your story gives me hope to keep plugging away. I have a revision scheduled for September and pray after that I’ll see the other side after recovering from it. [emoji6]


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