TKR Update

YAY!! I'm so pleased for you and your wife!! Scary times when we have to wait...but like you said, relief now!

This may help with the pain and stress too! Time for a bubble bath!

:bath:
 
So I saw my surgeon today & I have determined that he is an imbicile!! He says" oh why did you stop PT?". Ummm because your PA told me I should!!

" Oh no, you need heavy PT 3 times a week!!"

This is ridiculous!!!

Only thing I am certain about is I picked the wrong dam surgeon!!
 
Only other thing he could think of was that maybe I have an infection in the joint. He sent me for labs to verify the status

My confidence in this guy is about zero at this point!!
 
I lost faith in my surgeon after I found Bonesmart. The Bonesmart guidelines made so much more sense than what I had been told and after that my surgeon continued to tell me to do things that Bonesmart said not to. I chose to believe Bonesmart!

To be honest, all I will need a surgeon for next time is to install my new hardware and give me pain control for however long he will. Bonesmart and I can handle the rest! And my rehab will be done at home, on my own, for sure.
 
Has stopping PT improved your recovery? I'm assuming so....and that should be your answer to the OSs why!
 
Stopping PT improved my pain levels somewhat. What annoyed me was him asking in the manner he did. It was more like "why did you stop?" With the tone being more accusatory, like I just stopped on a whim. When I told him his PA TOLD me to stop, and also told me that I did not need PT because my ROM was very good, he simply replied ",Oh"

Then write a script for me to go back to pT 3 days a week to build strength

I don't honestly believe he has a clue why I have a problem. Pretty disgusted at this point!
 
" Oh no, you need heavy PT 3 times a week!!"
Boy, is he behind the times! Doing that is sure to keep your knee inflamed, swollen and painful with less ROM because of that swelling.
Then write a script for me to go back to pT 3 days a week to build strength
It's too early to be thinking about building strength in your knee. You do that yourself just using it daily in your daily life. As you can do more, your strength increases.
 
I did PT 3x a week for 5 weeks! I also did exercises twice a day, everyday. My numbers were 125/ 2 at the end of six weeks. I believe it set healing back but everyone told me the exercises were soooo important. I have another knee to fix and will do PT just to keep joint loose and strength up. We live and learn.
At 15 weeks I'm going on a walk every morning, using my floor pedal and have just started to add back a few PT exercises, very few...
 
@DOCCUKE I have been reading your entire thread tonight and couldn't help but respond. You have been given wonderful information by everyone here, but I am so angry with your surgeon I could scream. :hissy: I'm already 6 months post-op from my first TKR, but there are numerous things in your thread that caught my eye......

I'm only 47, but I've had 11 knee surgeries in the last 20 yrs----2 of which were majorly invasive with complicated recoveries. I was a major athlete through my 20's,and I kept trying to run into my 30's. As my knees worsened in my late 30's, I was left with walking and weight lifting, but I was a die-hard gym rat 6 days a week!!! My surgical history is too long to go into, but I can summarize by saying my invasive 2016 surgery involved 2 yrs of PT which was extremely aggressive. I was told "no pain, no gain," and "You'll never walk normally again if you don't do A,B,C..." I bought every word and paid an awful price.:headbang:

Unfortunately, I ended up with a knee full of adhesions from the overaggressive PT. I know it because the surgeon cut out the initial adhesions AND then did a manipulation under anesthesia at 11 and 12 weeks post op (the scar tissue procedures were 8 days apart). I now know I didn't need either of those, as my flexion was 115 and slowly increasing. I bought into the "keep working out intensely or else" advice though ...resulting in MORE adhesions forming and the initial ACI procedure completely failing...all because I did too much. By the time I had a TKR on that knee in May 2019, I had a knee full of adhesions again.:yikes: It bent to 125, but the pain, nerve damage, and scar tissue made my TKR recovery a nightmare. My TKR surgeon spent 45 minutes just removing scar tissue before moving on to hardware!

Thankfully I had found my TKR surgeon because of my 2015-2017 nightmare scenario. He has some hard and fast rules concerning TKR recovery----1) it IS possible to over-rehab a knee, so DON'T, 2) 5 minutes a day on the stationary bike is all a new TKR knee needs each day, as repeated bending keeps the joint inflamed. You already have good ROM, so the 5-minute rule would easy for you :) 3) less strength training is better in the early days. He had me hold off on ALL strength training until the 12 week mark....no weights at all. No lunges, no squats, no step-ups, no weird walking on stairs in odd directions, and most important of all: NO ONE forces the knee to bend or straighten. He didn't even want me walking much in those first 3 months because it added to the swelling/stiffness. In a nutshell, the message was there's no rush, and you won't lose anything. In fact, you'll gain a lot less pain. He is sick of PTs sending patients back to him during weeks 4-16 with MORE pain than they had at 3 wks post-op. This is why for some my age and with my surgical/rehab history, he won't even send us to PT because we know all we need to rehab a knee....and most of us won't force anything or overdo it on our own....only when pressured by PTs or when PTs give us outdated and fear-mongering advice.

Granted, my PT wasn't exactly on board at the beginning, but she honored the surgeon's wishes, and she saw the payoff 12 weeks later. I needed her for major soft tissue/massage issues with my IT band. My flexion was slow to come, but my extension was perfect by 10 wks. My flexion is still only 108, but I have a huge Baker's cyst behind the knee, so the swelling is impeding the motion----NOT adhesions. If I do nothing for a few days, I get an extra 10 degrees of bending. :) It's just hard to sit for 3 days straight!!

Anyway---I know what it's like to think the surgeons and PTs know everything. I also know what it's like to live with their bad, incorrect advice. I really don't think they know how wrong they have done some people. That's why I researched the heck out of all this before my TKR. Bonesmart was a huge part of that. :) Best of wishes to you and good job advocating for yourself!!

--Lisa
 
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I am still trying to figure out what to do. Every person I ask about this has a different freakin answer. Do no PT, do light PT no pain no gain.. etc

All I know is I had 130 ROM at 3 weeks, best I have gotten straight is 2 degrees but in the meantime this knee hurts worse then before surgery ,it hurts worse than my right knee that is bone on bone and bowlegged!! I am now 3 months out from surgery & still just angry every dam day!

I have no clue what I should do with this dam thing!!

Beyond disgusted!!
 
I haven’t read all of your postings so this may have already been said. If it were me, I’d seek a second opinion on my pain levels. As far as to exercise or not, I’d do what I wanted to do unless it was causing me too much agony. I had my tkr about a week ago and I feel that I’m doing okay so far. I pray for you brother.
 
Hello...It still surprises me how different everybody's recovery is. I had TKR November 2018. Did PT and in general have been pretty active despite all the ups and downs.
All went well until 6 month post op when I started to loose ROM (went down to less than 90) and my knee felt so tight that I could not cycle at the gym anymore. My OS said there are adhesions and suggested MUA. Did have that done at 8 months post op. It improved my ROM by about 10 degrees.
More PT but still get super sore and that darn tightness after workouts or being on my feet a lot.
My ROM at 12 months is 110, still frustrated about the pain/tightness. I can walk up stairs almost without pain but walking down stairs is still a problem and painful. Just had my 12 month check up,
OS suggest stretching...stretching...stretching and keep doing my exercises. I guess that is what I will be doing and hope that things get slowly better and not decline again.
 
I have a question. My left knee, which is the knee that had the TKR is always significantly warmer than my right knee since surgery. I have no fever & my surgeon says this is normal. At this point my faith in this guy is about non existent

Has anyone else had this symptom?

It is not hot but very very warm, and like I said significantly warmer than my right knee all the time

Thanks
 
O!h yes...it means it is still healing. My area of warmth is like a shrinking circle. Less now that early on, but clearly still healing. I am still amazed at your ROM.

Have you tried no exercising or activity for a few days to see if the pain improves? That's my "go to response" when pain flares up...I even take a break from my 5 minute recumbent bike exercises. My pain levels seem to stop.

I do PT 1x per week and then just a full massage every 3rd time. My PT consisted of mostly stretching and only recently has it added 0 resistance machines. I currently have had 2 nights waking up with a new knee pain that I know was from a calf stretch I did to help with extension... So, no exercises for me at this point. My ADLs are pretty active with full time work also. I'd bet money that in 2-3 days my pain will be minimal again!!

Good Luck, and sorry about your surgeon!
 
Ok so that is at least normal
I have been doing nothing other than walking the dog & the recumbent bike with no resistance and have slightly less pain. Dr wants me to go to the PT 3 days a week for heavy PT to build strength.
I have an appointment tomorrow for PT, but I am going to have her work on deep tissue massage and light stretching. I am not going to be doing "heavy PT" he can water off!!

My biggest deficet is in trying to straighten my leg. Usually between 2 & 5 degrees. I have not hit 0 degrees once. But my right non op knee is st 2 degrees also. My knees have been bad for at least 25 years so I am sure there is allot of damage in there

Oh I am at 3 Months out & still wake up several times a night from stabbing pain in my knee

Also waiting to hear back from my Dr on the blood test they did Monday to see if I have any infection. Called them this morning & they "couldn't find the results" but said they would call me back as soon as they have the result

I picked a winner!! :)
 
Dr wants me to go to the PT 3 days a week for heavy PT to build strength.
Your knee isn't ready for strength building. It is way too inflamed and angry. Back off anything aggressive. Your knee is just 1/4 of the way healed. That means it's still has soft tissues that need babying.
 
I was the same as you with the stabbing knee pains at night, especially up through weeks 13-15. By 4 months, night time was finally normal. I know for a fact I still needed the occasional Vicodin during weeks 13-14. Otherwise sleep just wasn't happening.

I still have the warm knee at 6 month post-op. My warm knee always hangs around for months and has acted that way for 7-8 of my 11 knee surgeries.

Lastly---getting to 0 extension is HARD 1) if you've had compromised range of motion issues for a long time. The tendons and muscles are used to being in the shortened position. It can take months to stretch things back out again. Also 2) if there's still swelling/inflammation. My extension is perfect most days but drops again when I've done too much walking/standing and things swell up again. It makes it hard to bend and extend. :hissy:

These knees have alllllll sorts of ways to tell us when they're mad! :)
 

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