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TKR Recovering from TKR

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You are right to need the alone time to kind of go deep inside yourself, in whatever way is meaningful. I know I for one, had a huge amount of buried trauma in my old knee from a bad first surgery 42 yeas ago. I used the whole first month as a kind of retreat..did a fair amount of crying and writing and sleeping, plus meditation. You will probably find that you are much more sensitive about the misfortunes of others now, too and cry easily in general. I've found the journey so far to be important, so get that solitude somehow even if people gripe!
 
Wow, I found Bonesmart a couple of weeks ago and responded to someone's post, but I've never seen the kind of replies you are getting. Yes, I agree. It is great to find a place where people know what you're going through!

I know those night time blues all too well, too. I'm doing better sleeping through the night, but not getting to sleep. Tonight I'm up typing rather than lying in bed, twisting and turning my leg and listening to all of the cracking noises. If you don't have the cracking - don't worry - you're not missing anything. I take a benadryl along with pain pills and it helps me stay asleep.

Be well - gnight - time for me to try for shut eye.
 
hhilltop
Good to hear from you Martha in Vermont! :)

Looks like you have had quite the history with your knees, including an MUA. How is everything now?

If you feel like it, please do start your own thread and tell us about your recovery. It helps so many to hear how others handle recovery. Including issues with how to get to sleep!
 
hhilltop, yes we would love to support you also! Start your own thread by going to the top of the page click on knee replacement, and at he top it will say start a new thread. Think of a title, then start writing about yourself and we will respond! :happydance:
 
I forgot to mention that I too had a bent leg for 42 years! It made me about 2 inches shorter on that side.
Anyway, be patient with those muscles and tendons..you are right to assume they need extra time to lengthen and shorten. I just refused MUA around this issue. I was really 'lucky' after my operation..I sometimes get intense muscle contractions in my sleep and my first night after surgery it happened and I awoke with my bad leg completely rigid...and straight for the first time since I was 18 years old! then Of course there was much gnashing of teeth and peeling me off the ceiling as I tried to relax it again.
One of my biggest problems from having the frozen leg all these years is that the new stretches and movements have caused my Sural nerve to be inflamed..it;s the outside of the shin from knee to ankle. It is relentlessly painful..more than the knee, probably because it is woven in with some scar tissue from my first surgery which was horrific and left me gimpy all my life til now.
Just take your time and do not let anyone push you too hard and just realize this surgery will take awhile to sit right..your whole body has to realign.
 
Good morning! Yes, today is infinitely better! I'm back to doing my exercises and about to go to the gym for my ten minute low resistance bike ride. That's about all I can handle but I am doing lots of strengthening exercises with bands at home. I'm religious about them!

The whole way I found this new physical therapist by the way is quite amazing. Last year I had a different insurance and because I spaced out from being in so much pain, I forgot to select the same insurance again, so it defaulted to a PPO instead of an HMO. Little did I know that would be to my benefit. When I started PT with the first therapist (the one that did barely anything), I was under the old insurance because it was still 2012. But when I was seeking a new therapist this year, my mom suggested I see this particular guy and then I thought, "oh, I can't see him because he's not in my network". Then I realized...oh! I have a PPO by accident and now I can go anywhere! And what's even odder is that this physical therapist is right outside my neighborhood. Kizmet!!! The stars are lined up!

And now I'm giggling because I feel so different today emotionally and a lot better physically, that's for sure. What a rollercoaster ride!! Can I please get off????? :spin:
 
[Bonesmart.org] Recovering from TKR
No, Laura, you're not allowed to get off the roller coaster. When it's done with you, it will let you off. Until then, just follow the BoneSmart mantra.

Take care and keep us posted. We care. [Bonesmart.org] Recovering from TKR
 
Sounds like you are on the right track.
 
One thing that I have found out because of my VMO muscle being weak my foot wants to point outward. When I am walking in the alter g antigravity treadmill, and I look down my foot looks crooked when they tell me it is straight. I discovered by accident on Thursday as Felice was working with me, that there was a solution. She had me putting my weight on that leg and extending the other out o the side. I kept tilting and losing my balance. I said let me move further down to the end of the pole. That didn't work. Suddenly, I said, "I wonder what would happen if I closed my eyes and did the exercise." Suddenly I was in a straight line and Felice said that I wasn't gripping the poles! :happydance: On Friday, when they zipped me into the alter-g, I did the same thing. I started out slowly, and worked up to running! They said that my foot was straight the whole time! I had a peek once, and it still looked funny to me, so I closed my eyes again!

The point of my ramblings :) , is the brain has stored the correct walking, balancing, and running patterns from 23 years ago for me! That should give you a lot of hope! It is there, it will reawaken after therapy gets you to a certain point! I am living proof. I know, I know, I will have to open my eyes sooner or later, but for now I am just ecstatic about the power of the brain! :happydance:
 
I was just curious....when I was in the hospital for 4 days, they had me on a CPM machine and when I returned home, they set me up with one there. I tried using it for four days but I just could not tolerate that thing! Being that I have other issues going on in my leg, I'm hyper-sensitive to anything resting on the back of my leg and this was the case before my surgery too. I couldn't stand my leg resting in that machine. I even tried three different types of machine and I just couldn't do it. Fortunately, I had a 90 degree bend when I left the hospital, so the doctor wasn't too concerned about it, although my extension has been the issue. I'm working on that now in PT and have a 125 bend now but it still feels very very stiff and my knee is still swollen.

Just curious about others who haven't used or couldn't use the CPM. Is there anyone else out there like me?
 
Hi, you don't say how long ago surgery was, but 125 is pretty good in any case. I never had CPM, and indeed only one physio session 'not much we need to do for you, off you go'.

You could use a static bike for ROM if that's your taste.

CPM is for flexion, isn't it? Extension exercises would be different, I guess.
 
Hi Laura, I never used a CPM machine either, my OS was not fond of them! I did fine without it, just did gentle heel slide and slow and easy leg extensions. When was your surgery, your numbers look fine to me too!
 
Oops! I had my RTKR on 12/11/12. And yes, CPM is for flexion but it also helps extend the leg somewhat. I'm having a lousy day today actually. I tried driving today to go to my weight watchers meeting...yes I'm nuts for trying to do all this at once, but my husband has the flu and I really wanted to go weigh in because it was my first week. Anyway, I lost 3.6 lbs!

Back to the CPM, I do static bike usually every day for 10-15 minutes but at a very low resistance. I'm finding that even if I put it up to a 2 on the bike, I can't handle it later. That's my "thing". Must be because of my fibromyalgia plus the soft tissue in my right leg is a mess from being bent for years and years. The surgeon got it straight to 0 in the OR, and my PT can get it straight, but it's keeping it there that's the issue. I guess that will come over time. I'm all over the place with this post! lol.

It's great that you were able to just get on with things without a lot of PT. I'm going to be working on this for a long time...my leg is a mess which includes the psoas, the IT band, and even my foot is a mess from walking around on a bad knee for years.
 
Hi Jacky :) Surgery was 12/11/12. I'm still very stiff and swollen but I guess I'm doing ok. I used to worry about it more but now that I've been reading the posts on this board, I guess I'm normal. Although my husband would beg to differ, LOL. I'm glad to hear others didn't use the CPM either. Once I called the doctor to tell him I couldn't take that thing, he asked what my ROM was. When he found out it was 90, he said don't worry about using it. Life was so much better without it! :)
 
My OS didn't want me to put any resistance on my bike for up to 3 months, he said to use it just for range of motion! So, go slow you're still new out of the gate! Slow and easy wins the race! No Pain, More Gain!:thumb: You're doing great!
 
I agree about slow and steady. I even put that saying in my blog. I guess I thought a Level 2 *was* slow and steady, but I'm learning that this whole process is truly slow. Much slower than I anticipated! Thank you :)
 
Lauramacky said:
... Back to the CPM, I do static bike usually every day for 10-15 minutes but at a very low resistance. I'm finding that even if I put it up to a 2 on the bike, I can't handle it later. That's my "thing".
Click to expand...
No need to have any resistance at all at this stage, just use it for flexion, not for training -- too early!
The surgeon got it straight to 0 in the OR, and my PT can get it straight, but it's keeping it there that's the issue. I guess that will come over time.

...my leg is a mess which includes the psoas, the IT band, and even my foot is a mess from walking around on a bad knee for years.
Click to expand...
OK you can do your exercises at home without a therapist. The bike is great for flexion - no resistance, just lower the saddle a tiny bit every so often. Extension is straightforward too, some pics from the links in my sig.

You don't really need to do any fitness training just yet, just stretches to get your leg right. When you're healed, then you can train.

Massage will help with soft tissue, especially the ITB.
 
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