PKR Partial Knee & ACL rehab - 8 weeks out

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Hi mark

what with the failure of my pool seession I forgot to make the point I had intended in my last post, I will put this down to post traumatic pool stress if there is such a thing (well there is now).

I agree with josephine, excessive pain in any type of rehab is not the way to go. That really is the brain telling you to back off, slow down and ease up. Of course if you are like me you dont always listen to the logical part of your brain, but life is a learning curve afterall.

Best of luck with the rehab

Regards

PB
 
pb
Take a chill pill, ice, and relax partner. It's amazing how time heal the body. I have found out that pushing hard can take you backwards. You will have some time on your hands so figure out how to occupy yourself and mind. I'm almost 12 weeks out and still have a ways to go. I had an ACL replaced in addition to the PKR, so my recovery time may be different.

Good luck and a speedy recovery.
MarkM
 
Still having a lot of pain since PT on Tuesday. I wonder if her pressing my knee down to the table is doing damage and causing this awful pain. The pain is a sharp pain in the medial area where the partial was done but I am also getting sharp, stabbing jabs on the other side. Yours answers won't get to me before PT in a half hour but I still would be interesting in knowing your thoughts. I am having so much trouble walking on that leg...

Rose
TKA 3/2/10
Mako 6/14/11
 
Rose I think your pain is from the therapy session....probably not any real damage, but pain nonetheless. There are a lot of soft tissues around your knee that can get angry when they are pushed too hard either through exercise or manipulation.

I hope you take this session VERY easy, get back home to rest, ice and elevate. Your knee must have a good rest to get back where it was.
 
Cubby,
The straightening of the leg is a tough one and painfull. I feel your pain!! My PT said it was neccesary to get staight and it needed to be done if I didn't want to walk with a limp.

One thing that helped me a little bit was to vibrate my knee cap up and down and back and forth using my hands - kind of like massaging it, but not to hard.

Jamie got it right - Ice helps greatly. Ice it to were it knumbs the area.

We have to go thru pain to get were we want to be. You will get thru this!!!

MarkM
 
Pt went well today. She is concerned about my pain and recommended that I call the doctor. We also decided that I am going to massage the knee more thoroughly than just doing the scar massage. She thinks that might help. Going to give it a try. Barely could walk around a store this evening -- so much pain. Back to using my cane. I don't remember my TKA being this painful. 8 weeks out and I should be back to work!

Rose
TKA 3/2/2010
PKA 6/14/2011
 
Rose, I feel your pain. Today I had a proper assessment with my physio as I was worrying so much because my daughter told me my active extension was terrible and really pushed my knee until it was very sore last weekend. The physio today says I am doing fine...5 weeks out and my ROM is 125 and 0 when passive. Not so good when active but still not really bad, I just have to work hard on my quads without overdoing it because I still have quite lot of soft tissue inflammation. She gave me a useful tip. On your old knee do the quad exercise where you really pull your knee cap up..put it in your brain and then do the new knee. Five good ones are better than 10 not so good. Same with the exercise where you rest a folded towel under your knee and lift your heel up, holding and gently putting down. She assures me the extension will come as the healing improves. Massaging is good too. Breaks up the adhesions and stretches the muscles etc. I do suffer from pain too. She told me that although a partial can give better results long-term in flexion it is a more painful recovery. First time I had heard that! We will get there. Each day is a day closer to having a normal life again.
 
Hi All,

RPKR and ACL replacement 5-13-11
Broken Tibia 1999

It's been around 3 1/2 months since my pkr & acl replacement.

I went to the doc last week. He stated I was doing really good. I am completely off the nsaids & tylenol. Doc told me to try not taking meds for a few days and see how it goes. I wanted off ASAP because it was messing with my plumbing:hairpulling:. I can actually feel the real way my knee feels. I know now that I have some time and work to get it back to normal. Knee usually gets sorer at the end of day and I am still having issues sleeping.

It's been 3 days since I discontinued the nsaid and tyl and am I taking 2 advils a couple of times a day. I have been riding a real bike 4 out of the last 6 days for around 15 - 20 minutes and I can really see some progress. However, Doc said I should not golf for another month because of ACL:cry:. I tried swinging the golf club and the twisting of my knee caused pain and I do not want to go thru this again!!!

It is amazing how the body heals itself. It's just a matter of time.

Hope all have a speedy recovery!! Oh yah... I read some of the previous posts when I was on the hard meds and have to laugh at myself...:th_heehee:
 
Glad you are doing so well, Mark! Keep up with the progress reports!
 
Hi Guys

Six weeks next Thursday since my uncemented Oxford LPKR. Interested to read about the whole meds business and how long one should stay on the NSAID's. You hear that you should keep taking them untill you no longer have pain or inflamation. The difficulty of course is recognising that moment in time as sometimes you have some pain at other times you dont. I have cut it down to one Diffene a day and also have given up the paracetemol. Its do-able for me but I reckon it person specific.

I have been working in the pool on the rehab side for the last couple of weeks (every second day) and have noticed a big improvement on my ROM - somedays better than others, but being able to float on my back allows small leg kicks and pulling the knee up to my chest, all in a very controlled and pretty weightless manner.

Go well all

PB
 
Actually I would always recommend giving up the NSAIDs and staying on the paracetamol!
 
8 months out - UPDATE Re: Partial Knee & ACL rehab - 8 weeks out

Hi All,

5-13-11 RPKR & ACL Replacement
3-01-99 Repair of broken tibia

I wanted to update you on my progress. It is a little over 8 months since my operation. I still have the burning in my knee and it stiffens up if I have been sitting for a while and I have a little click when first putting weight on it.

I was able to golf 9 holes once, but golfing is out of the question now since it is the middle of winter in NE Ohio. 2 weeks ago I was able to walk around 4 - 5 miles up and down extreme hills in southern Ohio for 3 days and was able to bag a huge 10-pt deer. By the way, I give venison to a couple of needy familys, so there's my good deed for the day!!!

I am very happy with the results so far, but realize it is going to take a little longer till hopefully one day I'll be able to jog, or even run again. I am finding out that my enderance is lacking and it's hard to exercise with it being cold outside.

Thanks for your support and I will check in the future to give more updates.

MarkM
 
Well, fancy seeing you again! Thought you were lost and gone forever! Good to hear you are doing okay.
At eight months you still have plenty of time to go before you can put this whole thing to bed - so to speak. :thumb:
 
Hi, Mark!! So good to hear from you. You're doing just fine. Recovery can sometimes take longer than expected.....everyone is different. Keep giving yourself some time. Actually, I'm pretty impressed that you were able to hike 4-5 miles in the hills! Hope to hear more from you....
 
Hi All,

It's going to be 1 year since my procedures.

Overall, things are going pretty well. I am able to walk with very little, if any, limp. My knee stiffens up when sitting and I get up. I notice stiffness most in the morning. I have found that stretching helps a lot. Still not able to jog or run... I am finding out when I overdo it the recovery time is considerably less as time goes by.

Hey...I am back golfing, yardwork, & 4-wheeling:yay:.

I do have my 1 year checkup and am anxious to hear what the doc says.

Thanks for your advice and I will check back to let you know my progress.
 
Hi

Good to hear Mark that you are well and truely on the mend sounds like you are rocking and rolling again. Its been 10 months since my PKR and I have to say that things are looking good as well. I am cycling and kayaking about three times a week and even went on a novices rock climbing course on Saturday. My pearl of wisdom today is that the best rehab I did was swimming which I started as soon as the wound had closed. It allowed the joint to stay flexible while building up the strength. It worked for me anyway (I went every day by the way for about two months). I started very slowly and built it up from there.
Wishing everyone who is embarking on PKR rehab all the best
Onwards and upwards
Patrick
 
Thanks Patrick,

We sure have come a long way!!! The body is surely amazing. As the pain from overdoing it gets less and less the more confident I have that this is going to be a success! I guess the next big ticket item is to be able to jog. That would/will be the ultimate test that this is a success...

Thanks again and a speedy recovery.

Mark
 
Guys, would you PLEASE put your surgery dates in your signatures like the rest of us do?
You can find the instructions here How to create a signature.
 
Patrick,

Are you able to jog or run? I am finding out that it still is putting too much pressure on my knee.

I was able to walk in a 3 mile benefit this past weekend, which was almost a jog. I was a litle sore the next day, but not too much.

Does anyone have any other issues with pains that have crept up since surgery? My issue is I am having trouble since surgery sleeping on my right side. My right shoulder is bothering me since I believe I slept on it wrong after surgery.

Thanks and a speedy recovery to all.
 
Patrick,

I am able to hike on a few different wooded trials near me. I am golfing weekly, do yard work and I also am biking some, but not as much as I should be.

I had a broken bone in my left ankle around 13 years ago and it appears that that the bone repair is very similar as far as the recovery timeline. It was approx a year on my ankle to were I know I had work done on it, but was functioning pretty good. It took around 2 years on my ankle to where I did not notice it much. I am thinking that the bone repair on our knee will be very similar. At least that is what my doc told me.

I am going for my 1 year appointment to see my doctor this Thursday. Let me know if you have any questions that may help us out.

:feedback:One question I have is if I need to do some shock treatment to my knee, like jogging or some other kind of jolt or pressure to the joint. My physical trainer told me I would need to do this in the future. Any feedback on this subject would be appreciated.

Thanks my friend and good luck to all on your recovery!!

MarkM
 
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