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TKR Pheebs52 Recovery Discovery Journey May 22

i find that i walk just fine within my house, but outside, walking the dog or just walking i have to think about walking nicely with appropriate strides. pheebs, i just had to try walking down the stairs backwards. is it my imagination, or is it exactly like walking up the stairs, same movements??:scratch:
 
Egads Celle, you just underscored my feeling about escalators! What an awful experience! I'm with Kmak, that's actually scary just to read.:yikes: Other than bruises and scratches (and I'm sure they hurt a lot) were you basically unscathed? No broken bones? And after all this time, you still limp if tired? If so, I guess we can't expect these new knees to behave like the originals even several years after the fact, eh?

Kmak, aha, you really ARE my twin, lol. :heehee: I'm so glad to hear your walking...er...*style* has improved a bit with effort. I'm sure we'll all continue to improve, I just find it so peculiar that it's not automatic. I guess that's what my PT is talking about when he says that certain exercises help us to establish new neural pathways. I'll have to discuss this further with him.

As far as San Francisco goes, I suspect you'll see more than a few people Frankenwalking; hahaha! I'm with you on the shoes though. Some are definitely more motion friendly. I find the ones that have slight rocker bottoms, like Hoka One-One's *Gravitas* and Clark's *Wave* to be the easiest in which to maintain good form. Neither are exactly summery, but at present, I am definitely more iffy in sandals of any sort; pfft! Oh well, small price to pay for easier walking. We're keeping up our end of fashion by decorating in Nursing Home Chic!
 
Liam, I *think* it is exactly the same, but somehow easier to do? That's how it feels to me....but, of course, I could be wrong.:snork:
 
Hmmm, actually Liam, I think he said it uses the muscles in the same way as walking downstairs *normal style*, but is less stressful and much easier to do. I'll ask again when I see him on Wednesday.
 
interesting. well if it helps to ease into walking alternative feet going downstairs (forward), then i'm all for it. after accidentally going down the stairs a couple of times using the non-operated leg, i'm a little terrified of doing it again before my knee is ready. it hurt. thanks for the tip.:scare:
 
Same here Liam. Those few, accidental steps down were hair-raising during the first few weeks, and pre-surgery, going down the stairs was my nemesis. In summary, I still find the idea of walking down the stairs foot-over-foot about on par with a root canal; pffft! :scare:
 
Pheebs52 said:
Egads Celle, you just underscored my feeling about escalators! What an awful experience! I'm with Kmak, that's actually scary just to read.:yikes: Other than bruises and scratches (and I'm sure they hurt a lot) were you basically unscathed? No broken bones? And after all this time, you still limp if tired? If so, I guess we can't expect these new knees to behave like the originals even several years after the fact, eh?
Click to expand...
My first thought was to feel thankful that I was wearing jeans, and not a skirt!
I was very bruised on my hip - I thought at first that I'd broken it, but I hadn't - and I had a most impressive bruise on there and on my right shoulder blade. However, after lot of tea and sympathy, and a day or so on Tramadol and Tylenol, I was almost as good as new. My sweet daughter gave me a gentle back massage each day, which was very comforting.
It could have been so much worse!

I still use escalators, but we always make sure that my husband is on the steps below me, not ahead of me, as he was on that occasion.

I think I limp when I'm tired because of my age, not because of my knees. I notice I've slowed down a bit this year.
 
@Celle It hurt to read about your fall. I am glad you were not hurt worse. I wonder if the person who pushed past you was aware of what happened.

@Pheebs52 If we are walking down the stairs backwards, which leg do we start with? I hated going down before surgery. I hope this makes my original knee more happy too.
 
Celle, how right you are in that it could have been so much worse; phew! Forgive me, but I just had to laugh at your first thought on wearing jeans versus a dress!:heehee:

Knit2tog, OP leg goes down first!
 
Wow, reading about Celle's escalator fall confirms my terror of them, especially at airports, where I too drag a carry on with me. I never get on with a crowd, but wait for an opening and hope for the best.

I was just thinking while walking this morning that I find myself lapsing into an uneven gait. It happens most when I look at the ground while I walk. I walk more "normally" when I look around me, at the houses and gardens, and not at the sidewalk. When I get protective of the new knees, and watch the ground, I move to protect them, just as I used to move to protect my painful arthritic knees. I always tried to walk with a normal gait, even with those, but I literally could not. It's interesting that I start to shuffle a bit on the new knees when I am being careful. I just snap myself back to looking at the houses again and focus on walking more normally, bending and lifting my knees, and am hoping it becomes habit in time. It certainly feels right and easy, so the lapses are the unnatural walking.
 
@Pheebs52 , just want to say cheerio and wish you and all the other girls all the very best in your recovery as I'm leaving the site, thanks for your input into any queries I had.
Thank you
Linda xx
 
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@Lilli215, oh no, we will really miss you! You've helped so many of us, more than you can know. Won't you reconsider, perhaps just take a short holiday?


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Susie, now that's an astute observation! In fact, last week at PT, that's exactly what I was told to do, look straight ahead instead of down. But, paranoia strikes deep with an intense fear of tripping over something.


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the physiotherapist in the hospital told me the same thing, to look ahead while walking, not down. dance instructors say the same; don't look at your feet. the problem around here is that some of the sidewalk panels have lifted an inch or two, making it easy to trip as my poor dad did one day while i was looking after him. he was wearing sandals and fell right down and came back with a cut on his forehead. when walking the dog, i sometimes walk on the road that leads to my street because i know it's even and i can walk with more confidence.
 
When I first started walking the neighborhood, I also walked in the road. It was just repaved last year and is wonderfully smooth. Best place for the unsteady. For the last week, though, I've kept to the sidewalk to work on my balance more. I felt ready for that. But yeah, some of the blocks are lifted by tree roots (lots of big, old trees in the neighborhood), so I do look down for those!
 
Just got back from PT and was asking about when the walking would become more natural and he said the same thing - look ahead. I am also fearful of tripping - particularly in new places so it is sometimes hard to do He also said that I would probably have to think about it more until my extension gets better. I was stiff and swollen this morning. It's such a fine balance - you start to feel better and then do a little more - but it is a little too much - so then you have to cut back. Today was supposed to be a progress report day (aka measuring) to send to OS. We decided to wait until Thursday so that swelling goes down and I give my best performance :wink:. I also asked if he had to measure laying on the table as I do better in a chair - and he said we would measure wherever and however I want. I love my PT.
 
I've done down stairs backwards, but one step at a time, bc its easier since my "good" knee isn't 100% good yet. Interesting suggestion.
 
I dared to use the Metro today ( Ubahn) and walk home from the station. It's 30 steps up. Then a 650 m walk to our home (then 15 more steps)
What used to take me 10 minutes took me 20.
I did pause a few times but not because of the knee, but because my hands hurt sooooo much from the crutches.
I noticed I walked much better with crutches than when at home - in a hurry - from room to room freely. That's when I revert to stiff leg or peg leg gait.
Now at home, elevating and icing. My ankle is swollen again.
Haven't tried escalator w new knee yet.
Last two days it hurts all over again like on week 2 when I sit down and bend knee doing so. wail:boohoo:
 
I keep trying to walk step over step the last step down but still 'no go.' I think the knee is not stable enough yet. I'm going to try that suggestion from your PT tomorrow.
 
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