MUA Quads Pain After MUA

Melanie.I

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Hi , I’m new to this website.
i had a TKR then a MUA a week ago jan 6. Prior to the MUA I was having so much pain inside of my knee it stopped my ROM.
Now the pain is gone in this area but moved to my quads, it is so tight and painful ( all the way to my hip) that I’m still having a hard time bending the knee. Doctor said if I don’t reach the goal of 120/125 , he wants me to get another MUA. My question is, what a second MUA will do if the reason why I can’t bend my knee is caused by my painful quads? I thought MUA was used to get rid of scar tissues. Is it possible for the scar tissues to re grow that quickly ? I’m stuck at 90 and 6 since the mua and I’m afraid that if I don’t bend that knee quickly , scar tissue will grow again.
 
:welome: to BoneSmart. MUA breaks adhesions, which are muscles/ligaments/tendons stuck together. MUA breaks the adhesions but stresses soft tissue and puts recovery back to square one. Now just do gentle stretching of your leg, don't do stuff that hurts, and wait. It isn't really possible for adhesions to reform so quickly, it's something else.

And:

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines

We are all different, as are the approaches to recovery. The key is, “Find what works for YOU.“ Your doctor(s), physiotherapist(s) and BoneSmart will offer advice and are there to help. The advice may vary, but YOU are the final judge as to the recovery approach you choose.

1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary

2. Control discomfort:
rest
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​

3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you​
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​

4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these

5. At week 4 and after you should follow this

6. Access these pages on the website

The Recovery articles:

There are also some cautionary articles here


We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.
 
@Melanie.I Welcome to BoneSmart! There is no window of opportunity in gaining ROM. Please don't let this surgeon threaten you with another MUA.

What you need to focus on now is getting the swelling controlled. It's the swelling that is preventing your knee from bending. Ice the knee and your quads. Lot of trauma post MUA. That knee just needs to calm down and your ROM will naturally increase.
 
Hi and Welcome!

Please tell us the date of your TKR and also the date of your MUA and we’ll make a signature for you. :flwrysmile:

Your doctor is being very impatient with your recovery. As the others have said, there is no window of opportunity to regain ROM.

First your leg was traumatized by the surgery, then again with an MUA. Your soft tissue is very upset right now, resulting in pain and swelling. It is the pain and swelling from all this trauma that is preventing your ROM.

The best thing to do right now is gentle movements, and lots of rest, ice and elevation. There are articles in the guidelines above that talk about that, please be sure to read them.

If it was me I would decline to have a second MUA.
Saying no to therapy - am I allowed to?

Regaining our ROM is more about Time than repetitions of a list of exercises.

Time to recover.
Time for pain and swelling to settle.
Time to heal.

Our range of motion is right there all
along just waiting for that to happen so it can show itself.

In the general run of things, it doesn't need to be fought for, worked hard for or worried about. It will happen. Normal activity is the key to success.
 
First of all, thank you so much to all of you that replied to me, it feels great to know that I’m not alone.
I had TKR Oct 19 21, after the surgery I was at 60. 3 weeks later I got to 90 but then it came to a stop and lots of pain happened and ROM decreased to 86, extension 10. Doc decided to do a MUA to brake the scar tissues ( he bent it at 130 and 0). I felt lots of relieved straight after the MUA as lots of pain especially inside of my knee were gone but 4 days later, my quads became the problem, very tight all the way to the hip joint. I Was disappointed as I read that ROM increased drastically straight after a MUA but of course it will take time to get to the goal ( for me at 125 ). My ROM now is 90 (barely)and extension 6 . I’m just worry that if I don’t move the knee quickly, scar tissues will grow back. I don’t have a lot of inflammation but I do use ice at least 3 times a day, elevate the leg, and work on stretches and extensions. Doc said he’ll wait until end of April for a second MUA if needed so he’s giving a good time for me to improve on my own. I’m just so frustrated that my knee is stuck again !
 
3 weeks later I got to 90 but then it came to a stop and lots of pain happened and ROM decreased to 86, extension 10.
This could have happened because of doing exercises that you were not healed enough to do, which caused increased swelling. 90 down to 86 is hardly any difference, personally.
I felt lots of relieved straight after the MUA as lots of pain especially inside of my knee were gone but 4 days later, my quads became the problem, very tight all the way to the hip joint.
The MUA caused trauma to the quads and they need to heal again.
 
Thanks , I will give updates in a week and hopefully it will be some good news.
 
I’m just worry that if I don’t move the knee quickly, scar tissues will grow back.
The scar tissue they are referring to is more properly called adhesions, and it does not grow back fast. In fact, adhesions are actually rare. It is very likely that you have swelling at this point, which is giving you a lower ROM number, because your leg has been traumatized twice within a short time.
Please tell us the date of your MUA and we’ll add that to your signature. :flwrysmile:



I do use ice at least 3 times a day, elevate the leg, and work on stretches and extensions.
How long are you icing? We recommend 45-60 minutes at a time, several times a day, just be sure to have a cloth between your skin and the cold source, to prevent any damage to your skin.

Stretches and extension exercises should be very gentle, no forcing.

 
Hi, @Melanie.I , and welcome. IMHO, I think you should ignore the doctor's pushiness and let your knee heal. Right now your knee is swollen and can't bend as much as it will as soon as the swelling goes away. Think of a garden hose-full of water it doesn't easily bend, empty it bends easily. When our knees are injured and healing, they swell, and that swelling means less movement. Your implant is there, ready and waiting to bend and straighten as soon as your knee heals more. Forcing it now will just result in more trauma, which in turn will cause more swelling and pain.

I use my ice machine pretty much non-stop every day after a surgery, taking breaks every hour or so to walk around. As long as there's a cloth between your ice source and your skin, you can ice for long periods of time. Ice helps with both pain and swelling, so my suggestion now is to spend a lot of time icing that knee for a while.
Another thing you can do is refuse to have your ROM measured, as some doctors use that measurement to gauge your recovery. But, since you've had two procedures, your knee is angry and needs time to heal. I've never been formally measured for ROM as I believe the ups and downs of healing can stress us out if we're constantly judged on that healing by some random number. Instead, I look back to where I was, and can see how far I've come in my recovery. At some point, you're going to stop thinking about your knee as much, over time, as you heal, it'll feel better and better, until one day you'll notice you haven't thought about it in a while.

Just because your doctor operated on your knee doesn't mean he now owns your knee. It's your knee, and your body, and only you get to decide the kind of recovery you want to have. You can ignore your doctor's pushing and not have another MUA, which is what I would do. If he's not happy with your numbers, then don't let him measure your ROM. Some doctors seem, to me, to take a patient's ROM personally, as if the faster you heal the better doctor they are. I prefer my doctor's method-he says your ROM will come as you heal, and never has officially measured mine. He has eyeballed it, but never measured it. He's never put any false date to reach any number on me-he allows my knee to heal, and encourages me just to keep walking and moving.

Give that poor knee a break and let it do some healing for a while-then look back at today and see how much progress you've made in your recovery.
 

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