Revised PKR to TKR Revision is done

Revision lefty

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Hi all had my revision on Tuesday, Dr said the replacement I had was totally unstable. He assured me that is not the case with the revision. Pain was rough in the hospital, they are very conservative with the pain medicine. Just Percocet after surgery with Celebrex. I’m home now and thankfully my pain Dr has given me OxyContin every 12 hrs and Percocet for break through pain. I was home 5 minutes and the Pt was calling to set up for tomorrow. I must say the pat’s at the hospital were great, everything at my own pace. Not like the “boot camp” I previously went through they were horrified when I told them about the 7 days of pt in a row, five hours a day!!
 
Welcome to Recovery!

I'm glad you had a better PT experience this time!


I will leave you our Recovery Guidelines. Each article is short but very informative. Following these guidelines will help you have a less painful recovery.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
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 to these pages on the website

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

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 the 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 the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
 
My revision is Aug 19th mine in unstable as well bottom part is tipped causing lots of pain. So glad yours went well. I hope my PT doesn’t push me like last time kept pushing my leg in the get the “bend” and had me hang my legs off of bed while I was on stomach well I won’t do it this time. How is your PT going ? Glad it’s behind you now
 
Be pro-active upfront with the PT’s and let them know about your prior experience. Mine backed right off when I told them, especially if your having a revision. Good luck and prayers for a better outcome. Pt is coming to my home tomorrow I will let you know how I make out.
 
Good morning @Revision lefty,

You have been in my prayers for several days. I hope your surgery went well and your revovery is not difficult. We are eager to know you are alright and to let you know we are all here for you. I know you are likely not feeling like posting but when you do, it’s with news that your surgery was a success. The road to a new better life is ahead of you with hopes of an easier recovery than you had before. Blessings and prayers are coming you way.
 
Good afternoon Mamie I hope and pray you are doing well. I hope your surgery was a success. My surgeon said my surgery went well, and he expects me to have a better outcome this time. I had about 6 previous surgeries on that knee before the replacement. At 16 yrs old I had a total reconstruction. A few scopes, 2 ACL repairs and A lateral release. My current surgeon said that because of all the surgery previously I should have had a replacement with longer rods. He said the replacement I had gave me no Stability. And when I went back to the original surgeon at my 1 yr appointment and complained he gave me an Rx for a steroid pack and said after I took the steroids I would be fine, but of course that did not happen. Here I am with my revision and hopefully a new lease on life. However it makes me angry that I had to deal with all that pain for six years. Pt came to the house today, seems good, he asked if he could push my knee back and I politely said no. He accepted that and moved on, I’m tired and going to take a nap. I will check back in, thank you for the prayers and kind words.
 
Good evening everyone, I did my home exercises today, I’m having the most trouble with the knee flexion stretch. Not much bend yet, my knee is pretty swollen and the Dr put in a replacement with longer rods to give me more stability. I’m trying to relax this time and not get caught up in the numbers game flexion and extension. My surgery was just Tuesday, I can put weight on it no leg lifts yet? Thought’s anyone?
 
@Revision lefty, I have moved your post from Mamie's thread to your own. Please keep your questions here on your own recovery thread. It will be so much easier to find your answers right here instead of someone else's thread.
 
@Revision lefty You are correct, just chill!! The ROM numbers will come with time. No need to rush. Take this time to relax and let your body do it's thing. HEAL!
 
Hi, Lefty.....congratulations on your newly revised knee. It's good to hear that your surgeon used a longer stem. That's typically done for just the reason he gave you - you'll have more stability in the leg as you heal and become more active.

You're wise to take things very slow. A revision is still very major surgery. Depending on how much work the surgeon had to do to remove the old hardware and place the new, you could have more tissue manipulation than with your primary surgery. That can translate into a little more pain afterwards and more swelling. So be prepared to take things slow if needed. Right now, the important thing is to allow some time for your body to get going on that healing process. If you haven't had a chance to review the information in our Wound Care area (tab at the top of the page), you might want to do so. The articles include information about how your body heals after surgery and it can help put things in perspective about why you don't want to be pushing those tender tissues when they are trying to knit themselves together.

Your first order of business is rest, ice and something for pain to help reduce the swelling. Nothing much advances until that is taken care of. Exercises are fine as long as they are not causing you pain when you do them or in the 24 hours or so afterwards and you're not seeing additional swelling because of them. It is important that you are mobile, though. So at a minimum, you need to do gentle bends and stretches throughout the day just to the point of discomfort or tightness. And you should get up and walk around the house for at least 5-10 minutes every hour or two. Naps are good. Sleep is healing time and you may not sleep through the night for a while. Remember you can ice at night when sleeping. Many people find that helps.

We're here if you have any questions or concerns.
 
It varies, different surgeons recommend different lengths of time.

I wore mine a little over a week. Others wear them 4-6 weeks. Other members “ lost them in the wash” in a matter of days.
 
I never had to wear any. I think it depends on you and your doctor.
 
Good morning, yesterday was a week since my surgery. It sure did go fast, all was going well I was starting to walk really well. Then the Pt came and had me do new exercises such as heel raises, mini squats, hip extensions, hip Abductions. Hip/ knee flexion, butt kicks, seated knee bends. Needless to say my knee blew up and was so painful and I couldn’t walk and couldn’t sleep because of the pain. Finally my question is this too much too soon? Trying to recover today rest, ice, elevation. Thanks
 
@Revision lefty YES, that was to much!! Just because you can, does not mean you should. I just had a partial, and did not let the PT push me that hard. I have NO idea why PTs think you need to be recovered in 1 week!!! I am sure other will chime in with the same message. I am 29 days out from my PKR. my ROM is around 128 or so. I did not work hard to get there. I let my knee heal.
 
Finally my question is this too much too soon?
What did your knee do? What does that tell you? Yes, most definitely that was way too much too soon. It was awful PT for a newborn knee. All you should be doing are gentle movements with some stretching and bending. Never ever let it be painful. That sets back your recovery. Your knee is not out of shape it's extremely injured. You have to heal from these injuries before you start aggressive PT.

Many of us never took formal PT or did exercises. I am one of them. I had 12 knee surgeries, 2 of them kneecap removals, and 1 tkr. Even after those I never took formal PT. But, I didn't just sit around and do nothing. I used my knee as it was intended to be used by walking around to take care of my daily needs. As I healed I was able to do more. Icing and elevation were a huge part of my recovery.

Listen to your knee. It will tell you if you're doing too much by increased pain and swelling. When that happened to me, I found that resting, icing, and elevating helped. Your knee knows how to rehab itself without being told what to do.
 
Good evening everyone, I’m having a rough week. Ever since Tuesday and my over zealous Pt appointment it’s been downhill, more pain swelling, can’t bear full weight. I’ve been resting, icing, elevating feel like I Lost some ground. My knee feels tighter and I’ve lost some of the bend I had. Driving myself crazy, because I want things to go well. The nurse was surprised today at my swelling. Any advice thanks in advance.❤️
 
I’m so sorry your PT overworked you, so very early in recovery and caused unnecessary, additional pain and swelling.

Continue to rest, ice and elevate, with some very gentle bending movements and short walks. This is all you really need this early in recovery.


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.
 
It is so upsetting to see how bad, aggressive PT can set recovery back. The best you can do until you recover from that session is the rest, ice and elevate as much as you can. Just walking around doing your ADL is all your knee needs. I suggest you cancel all PT until your knee recovers.
 

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