@Andypandy I am with you. It is so hard to balance how much activity is too much.
Up until recently, I was really lazy with household chores and FULLY enjoyed the break (kept reminding my hubby that this is not a "linear" recovery.
With the quarantine, who is going to visit anyway and see the unkempt home?
Lately, I've been much more active re: mopping, vacuuming, power washing the deck furniture, just much less time in the recliner and lots of trips up and down the stairs (up normal foot over foot; down the baby way.) Lots of errands (climbing in and out of the car.) My walks have been erratic (2-3 days of no walks - some days 5/6 miles or just 2 - depending how my body feels). Getting much more stamina back - post surgery fatigue is real! Other days I have done nearly zero and my Fitbit clocks in under 500 steps - lazy, rainy days.
HOWEVER, recently I have noticed a little tenderness in the medial knee area. I had skipped days of icing and elevating but now I am back to it. I am 100% okay with the *temporary* tenderness physically (pain level maybe a 2/3 on a scale of 1 to 10) but MENTALLY there is the fear that it won't disappear eventually or will get worse or that maybe something isn't right. Or, maybe I just notice it now that the swelling, stiffness, and tightness feels nearly gone? I can easily passively bend to nearly 140 degrees and extension is still 0 so I doubt there is much swelling left.
I scheduled an outdoor PT session yesterday so that she could evaluate my gait as I feel my arch caving in by the operated medial knee (same as pre surgery). Next week, I get fitted for new orthotics (mine are 25 years old and not fitted for the new knee) so until then I have paused the long walks until I am confident that my gait is proper. And until after she evaluates whether my Asics are a good fit.
In the meantime, my PT gave me standing exercises to strengthen my glutes, hips and thighs -says I am not engaging them when I walk and stressing my knees. Nothing aggravated the knee that we worked on so I guess I will try them. My PT was not worried about the tenderness, she thinks that my body is still compensating to protect it after limping for so long? Definitely have to focus on walking heel - toe, etc as catch myself walking flat footed mindlessly. Also, with the gym closed, I don't have access to a bike to get a little non weight bearing exercise vs. just walking. I think it's important to change it up.
I am fine with the mild tenderness but the difficult part is me trying to convince myself this is temporary and will go away with rest, good orthotics, and a proper gait and not happening because something isn't healing right.
This forum has been helpful to keep reminding me that it is a bit of a roller coaster. Guess I will be told to back off the domestic chores! It would be more understandable if I had pushed myself and a little tennis, pickle ball or a light jog triggered.
Activities that I will likely never return to.
Sorry for the longggg post.