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TKR Pheebs52 Recovery Discovery Journey May 22

I tend to be pretty sceptical about 'natural healing' etc however am willing to give anything a try once and after the 6th night in a row lying awake until 4am I am pretty desparate for a decent night's sleep. Can't blame the new knee as it doesn't give me any pain am just going through a period of lousy sleep. Have listened to a few different 'tunes' on Youtube and have found one i like ` so here's the really stupid question- are you meant to have it playing all night-if so how do you cope with wearing earphones whilst sleeping? I'm such a restless sleeper there's a good chance I could strangle myself in the middle of the night!:flabber:
 
Hehehehe I can well imagine that! One thing, the cables to earplugs are quite thin. I doubt strong enough to do you in. They would become unattached at one end before causing you serious harm. So yes, I understand... why even risk that!

I can tell you what I did last night: I had my smart phone loading and tuned in to a sound I liked ; put the phone on bedside table and let it play, listened without earplugs, without headphones. It was a unisono sound that didn't disturb my DH (but his hearing isn't so great anymore anyway.)
I slept from 11:30 to 5:30 when I had to go to the loo. Slept again to 7 am.
I liked the sound but decided at the start that if I found I was thinking about it too much I would just turn it off.
BTW, my knee is still stiff and has the very tight feeling and still hurts when I bend it to sit down. But at least last night it didn't wake me up when I turned around. Maybe it does work? Maybe coincidence.
 
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Good afternoon Smarties! And, it is. :happydance: This morning we took a s-l-o-w, cane-assisted walk through some local woods and it just felt great to be walking on pine needles instead of concrete. It was a beautiful day here and I just had to get out in a quite green area.

Now, for all of the "Less than Bendies," here, I have a little *adventure* recommended to me by my PT. It sounds very radical, ( I actually thought he was joking, but...he wasn't) but is supposed to increase flexion, so keep an open mind.:idea: FWIW, I tried it this morning before we went for our walk, with great success, so give it a whirl if you feel up to it. Here goes: Walk down your stairs, foot-over-foot, backwards.

That's it, and yes, you read it right. :dancy:
 
@Lilli, I did exactly the same as @VW54, no earbuds. I let it play all night and hubby slept right through.

@VW54, I think perhaps the better quality of sleep will lead to more healing, but....not overnight. If only!
 
I'm not sure my knee bends enough to walk up or down stairs foot over foot! Hmmm I'll have to think about that one. Also we need to be keeping a list of all the tee shirts we need to have made. Throne Sliders and Slow Benders are two I need. I know there were more but can't think of them!


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I'm gonna give the backwards stepping a try. There is one set of stairs at work that I actually was able to go down step over step using the railing on Thursday and Friday (they are about 6" high) - huge milestone but not yet automatic. Glad you were able to get out into nature a bit Pheebs. Much more pleasant than navigating grocery stores I expect.
 
It can take as long as 4 months before you can walk downstairs foot over foot. It will come in time. With most people, it just happens naturally. One day, you find you can do it.
 
Sorry to hear you had a bad time with the Recovery Room pain relief. Hope things are going much better today.
 
To be clear, the backwards stair thing was recommended simply as a relatively easy way to increase flexion. I don't think I'll be traipsing down the stairs in normal fashion for quite some time and that's okay. Besides the present, physical impediment, I have a psychological horror of it from how it was before the TKR....just awful.:yikes:
 
I don't have any trouble with stairs now, but somewhere along the way I developed a fear of falling, so I always make sure I hold onto the handrail.
 
Celle, I've had fear of falling for five years now and not without cause. Took some doozies in the last couple of years and don't care to repeat those performances.
 
I'm super cautious with stairs and elevators, and always hold the handrail. Going up and down the stairs foot over foot doesn't hurt, and the knees feel very competent, but if I can't hold the handrail, I don't do it. This limits me for carrying things, so I've taken to carrying a big comfy tote on my shoulder or in hand for my laptop, or a pair of slippers, or whatever cannot-be-carried-in-one-hand item needs transporting (rolls of toilet paper, more than one bottle of water or some snacks).

The backward stairs thing sounds interesting. I'll have to try it!
 
How about escalators Susie? Eeek! I always search for the elevator instead!

When I am able to carry a few things upstairs, I will do the same with a shoulder tote. For now, my *ahem* man-servant is still in charge of carrying *stuff*, lol. But....I do have 13 stairs, so that is a bit much for me. I'm rather fond of this system, so it might remain that way until we move.:wink:

Give it a whirl, I think you'll enjoy the stretch it gives. :SUNsmile:
 
@knit2tog, I did clock almost 8 hours AGAIN last night. Perhaps that oddball music actually does do something. If nothing else, it drowns out the snores of Nemo the Pug.:yes!:
 
Just curious: Does anyone else at my stage or beyond have some difficulty with walking properly? I seem to revert to semi, *peg-legging,* style unless I keep chanting the "heel-to-toe-mantra," to myself and really concentrating on it. Sometimes, I feel as if my brain and knee/foot aren't communicating properly, almost as if I have to re-learn how to walk. Like everyone else, of course, I have the knowledge on how it should be done, but the execution doesn't seem to be exactly automatic. Does that resonate with anyone? There's absolutely nothing physically preventing me from doing it correctly all the time, it just seems to be an issue of brain to leg linkage...baffling.
 
Pheebs52 said:
How about escalators Susie?
Click to expand...
I did have a tumble down a very long escalator about 18 months ago. I was holding onto the rail, too, but I had a small suitcase behind me. Someone in a hurry rushed past me and dislodged my hand from the rail. My case pulled me down and I did a backwards somersault down about 4 steps, landing heavily. The escalator kept roiling until someone at the top pushed the emergency stop. As well as multiple bruises, I had parallel scratches on my back, from the treads of the escalator. Not something I want to repeat!

I walk OK, except when I'm very tired. Then, I find I start limping again.
 
Pheebs -- re: walking correctly - I was exactly where you were about a week or two ago - having to say "heel, toe, push off the toe, drive the leg forward" or I would revert to the awful walk. It is becoming more automatic for me, particularly if I am not tired - though I seem to walk much more slowly than I am used to when I walk correctly. So I expect it will become more automatice for you too (your surgery was a couple weeks after mine). I also find that certain shoes allow me to walk more correctly more easily. In preparation for walking around San Francisco in just over another week I have been trying out various shoes for comfort and good walking form. Can't be seen lurching and limping around in such a fancy city.

Good grief Celle!!! It was painful to read about the escalator disaster - glad you survived it.
 
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