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PKR Partial KR five days post op and struggling'

Thanks KarriB, I think I may need to slow down a bit! That's very reassuring :SUNsmile:
 
There's really nothing you can do to hasten this recovery, but excessive activity can slow it down. Less is best where your new knee is concerned. At 1-2 weeks your bones are still healing as is your soft tissue. I did my first week in a transition unit, (rehab for just surgical patients) our PT consisted of stretches, heel slides and walks up/down the hallway. Otherwise I was in bed, usually drifting off to sleep.
 
I'm two weeks post op partial replacement right knee. Clips came out yesterday. Doing exercises three times a day, walking about the house a fair bit, up and down stairs to he bathroom, doing a few little chores. Resting with my leg propped up and plenty of ice for 30 mins to an hour in between activity. Swelling has gone down a lot and I have a good bend going on.

The last couple of days though my knee has felt incredibly tight and uncomfortable and I have to work really hard to exercise it. It feels as if it's seizing up and my progress has halted. The hot burning pain associated with the past swelling has been replaced by a deep ache inside the joint.

I'm still taking slow release Oxycodone every 12 hours and paracetamol every 4 so the pain is under control when I'm inactive. Am I just being a bit too ambitious at the moment? Should I continue to push when exercising or shall I calm it down for a day or two?
 
Hi @Go go girl. You are doing more exercise at 2 weeks post op than I am at 7 weeks. I stopped all PT at 2 weeks when I learned our knees need to rest and heal not exercise - it makes sense when you think about it. The only exercises I did besides walking were heal slides, gentle stretching and stationary bike - I had my first post op appointment yesterday and my OS is very pleased with my progress including extension and bend. There is a lot of good information admin will link for you soon- in the mean time dont exercise just relax and rest a while.

Cait
LTKR
27th October 2016

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
Thanks Cait, I've read through some of the other posts and it seems that I do need to relax for a while and let myself heal. I have an exercise bike at home, when did you start to use yours? The PT book that I was sent home from hospital with says that now I should be walking 30 minutes per day which seems crazy, in fact the whole book seems madly ambitious!
 
Go go girl said:
I have to work really hard to exercise it.
Click to expand...
Please don't. Your knee is damaged needing healing, not unfit needing training. Gentle stretches are the most you need. Above all, don't exercise to the point of pain.

Do less. Healing will not be helped by activity, and can be hindered if you overdo it.
 
Two weeks out and 30 minutes of walking each day. No wonder your knee is stiff... I didn't do that much walking till 6 weeks out.
Two weeks out my PT was aiming for 400 feet at most of walking.

A day or two of calming is not enough. Try two weeks and compare feelings then.

30 minutes of icing not enough 40-60 several times a day better.

Yes your progress has halted. Less is more.
 
@Go go girl I didn't get my stationary peddler until week 3 and then I only used it for a few minutes a day - backwards peddling first then forwards. Even now at 7 weeks I only use it for 5 minutes twice a day - as for walking I only walk around the house doing things like getting meals etc and every second day I go out for coffee or shopping but I don't walk non stop I always stop for a coffee break.

Cait
LTKR
27th October 2016

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
Go go girl said:
I have an exercise bike at home, when did you start to use yours?
Click to expand...

I started using the recumbent exercise bike at outpatient PT at week 4 for 6 minutes each visit. I tried using mine at home, but the seat is lower to the ground and the longest setting was still too close to get my feet comfortably on the pedals. It was almost week 6 before I could use mine at home. I usually use mine for 10-15 minutes at a time (I usually need 5-6 minutes of warm up time before I am loose enough to actually get a good stretch), and once a day if I go to 15 minutes; sometimes twice a day if I only do 10 mins.
 
It does seem you are far too active at this point in recovery. If this has been going on a while you may have to back pedal to get on track. Take a few minutes to read these short articles, especially the Activity Ptogression Chart. You should be spending the bulk of your time resting, elevating and icing.

First are the BoneSmart mantras ....
- rest, elevate, ice and take your pain meds by the clock
- if it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physiotherapist - to do it to you
- if your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again
- if you won't die if it's not done, don't do it
- never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can go to sleep!
- be active as much as you need to be but not more than is necessary, meaning so much that you end up being in pain, exhausted or desperate to sit down or lay down!

Next is a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) thread.

And here are some very crucial articles
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs

Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Activity progression for TKRs
Heel slides and how to do them

Extension: how to estimate it and ways to improve it
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling

Healing: how long does it take?
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR

Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds
Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?
 
I just found two different threads which I have merged. In future will you please conform with our requirement of only ONE THREAD for recovery.

The problem with multiple threads are as follows
1. you don't see posts people have left you in the old threads - for instance, I left you some questions in your other thread which you obviously never saw! If you would now go back to post #24 and answer them, I could give you some good advice!

2. other members - and staff especially - end up repeating themselves over and over. The recovery threads are a prime example and as you can see, Karri left them in the second thread when they had already been posted.

3. it makes it easier for people - staff in particular - to read your past history if you comment on a problem.

If you are having problems navigating the forum to find your old threads, then this should help "How To Use This Forum"

I think you'll find these two particularly helpful
Starting a new thread and posting
Navigating the forum; Finding New Posts
 
Gentle motions to "loosen up" a couple of times a day as I felt like it, a lot of lying around icing and elevating and maybe a few minutes of walking around was my schedule and your time of recovery. Remember that just walking to the bathroom, kitchen and so on is "activity." Oh and don't forget the naps. :heehee:
 
I was one of those that wasn't overly uncomfortable with pain issues after the tkr, and I thought if I could do this or that around the house I should. It didn't make my recovery any faster, in fact I think I slowed myself down and backslid a bit. So if you can be content at resting, elevating and icing and leaving some of the household chores to others it will be more helpful for you in the end. I know myself my first week or so I had lots of assistance from my husband, but it didn't take him long to not be as helpful and think I was able to tend to things myself as I had proven I could, but should have in the end taken things more slowly at the start of recovery. Hopefully your family realizes you really do need extra help with things at this point of your recovery.
 
Thank you zzevi and kneeper. It's clear that I'm doing way too much at the moment. I have to do most things myself as my daughter, who's 17, works long hours so I'm on my own most of the time. I don't know what other members have found but trying to get people to understand that I've been through a pretty major operation and recovery will be long and slow is proving difficult! Still, looking back to this time a couple of weeks ago I've already made incredible progress so I'm feeling good and excited for the future. This site has been such a brilliant support and I use it most days to reassure myself and pick up new tips and knowledge, so glad I found you all!
 
I read one week out and up and down stairs six times a day and gasped. If that's what you need to do, that's what you need to do, but that's a LOT of activity. I purposely avoided doing stairs for three weeks after each of my replacements so I could focus on resting, icing, and basic walking around the house (well, and other things as you'll see a couple paragraphs down, because I had very little help at home, too). That's certainly more exercise than you need, and you should consider doing less in other areas to compensate.

As others have already said, you'll want to ice longer than 20 minutes, but make sure you have a light fabric between your ice and your skin to prevent it from getting too cold.

My husband did very little for me after my surgeries. He took me to the hospital and brought me home. He did make supper, but he left the dishes for me to do. I had to tell him if he wanted his laundry done, he'd need to bring it downstairs to me. Then I broke that task (and any others I needed to do--dishes and litter boxes; everything else waited) into the smallest increment I could think of and rested in between.

Be specific to your family about what you need and what you will not be able to do for them. If they can't wait, they will need to do it themselves. And, yes, you have come a long way. I'm glad to read you're feeling good and excited about the future.
 
Try to consolidate whatever is taking you up and downstairs so often. If it's the bathroom, just stay up there, otherwise if it was me it would wait.
 
Go go girl said:
Thank you zzevi and kneeper. It's clear that I'm doing way too much at the moment. I have to do most things myself as my daughter, who's 17, works long hours so I'm on my own most of the time.
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Figure out what is needed now and what can wait and leave it for your daughter. Most things that aren't basic self care can wait. Your daughter can suck it up and help for a few weeks.

I was on my own until the weekends when my sister would come out and help me with housecleaning and laundry for the first couple of weeks.
 
Hello lovely people, just thought I'd check in. Have calmed it all down over the past week, spending as much time as possible sat down with my leg propped up and iced. Pottering about the house when absolutely necessary, heel slides and gentle exercises once or twice a day. Sleep seems elusive until the early morning but getting a few hours in. Now 3 weeks since the op and bored! Knee is still numb on the outside and stiff/aching on the inside. It feels as if it will stay like this for ever! Those of you who have been here and are months ahead of me please tell me again that it will change.........
 
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