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TKR Rick's Recovery Thread<

Hello Rick, I just read your recovery thread. My tkr was 2 days after yours. Since stopping pt and having my pain meds adjusted I feel like a new person. I can bend my knee far more than before. I can lift it onto bed by myself. It is not as swollen and warm. I canceled my last 2 home Pt appts for this week and postponed my out patient pt that is suppose to start Monday.

Do yourself and your knee a favor and take a break. Let me know how quickly you will see and feel a difference. I’d hate to see your recovery hit a wall like mine did.
 
Just an update. It will be 3 weeks tomorrow that I underwent RTKR. I am making progress in the fact that the swelling has come down somewhat, still swollen but I am icing religiously especially after activity. Have been doing the home PT exercises that were given to me, and I'm only doing them to mild discomfort (not pain). I think my ROM has progressed somewhat but will find out today as I have an out patient PT appointment later today. As far as pain is not bad at all. I have started decreasing my 5mg oxycodone to 2 per day, 3 on PT days. I am almost out of this medication and am not sure they will refill again. I am taking 2 regular strength Tylenol 325MG every 6 hours. Operated leg is still very tight especially in the thigh area and upper calf. I guess this will loosen up as time progresses. One of my biggest frustrations is not being able to sleep in a bed. I tried last night but could not get comfortable due to the fact I like to sleep on my side and I just struggle getting into that position. So I went back to the recliner and sleep about 2 hours at a time. I would of thought by now I would be able to sleep in bed. Oh well I'm sure it will come.
 
D2ens5, wow your whole story was like reading a rerun of my rehab . Sleeping in bed before week 4or5 was a trial and error process for sure. I toss a lot , and found that until I could move my leg up n down and back and forth without that jolting pain I was confined to the couch where I would wedge myself in with leg elevated so it couldn’t move too much ,and take my 1 to 3 hours as I could get them.
At going on 8 weeks out I am comfortably back in bed with a knee that allows me to move it around without any pain that it can’t handle. Patience it will come. Don’t know if you will follow my healing path exactly but things got remarkably better between 5 1/2 and seven weeks . Regardless you will get back to bed just be patient.
 
@D2ens5 sounds like you are taking a very sensible approach. Remember that You are in charge of your PT. Be sure to lay out your guidelines for them and be clear that if they can’t meet your needs you will find a practice that will. Sleep is such an elusive thing early on. My surgery on Righty was 1 day after yours and I have yet to sleep comfortably. If I get 2 hours in a row I am doing great. Like Softtail I am a side sleeper who changes positions often until that becomes comfortable I fear sleep will continue to elude me. For now take sleep when it comes. Let us know how out patient PT goes.
 
Well I had PT yesterday. I think it went pretty well. He added several exercises and told me only to do the exercises to mild discomfort and not pain. He was not concerned about ROM, said it will come he didn't measure them and just said it looks like your bend is better than last week. I came home and iced and really didn't have much pain last night was able to sleep a few hours in the recliner ugh. As suggested will continue with the gentle exercises at home to mild discomfort. By the way I was able to ditch the walker and am now using the cane.
 
Sounds like your PT is one of the good ones. Remember to listen to your knee.
 
Hello everybody, well I just got back from PT this afternoon. This was my third session for the week. It was going pretty good until today when the therapist did push and manipulate the knee a little more aggressively than normal. It hurt and the knee is slightly more swollen than it has been. I have my first follow up appointment with the surgeon next Wednesday 11/7/18 which will be 1 month post op. The therapist did say to me that the surgeon is going to want to see 90 degree flex at the appointment, I am currently
at 80 degrees. Told me to do the exercises he gave me over the weekend and he will measure me on Monday. So I am a little frustrated at this point. I know patience is key and everyone is different. It just seemed the Therapist changed his tune today and became a little more aggressive an made me feel I wasn't progressing. Up till today he said don't worry it will come. Don't know what changed in his mind. Anyway my pain is not bad and I am off the hydrocodone. I'm taking Tylenol, 2 capsules of 325 mg every 6 hours. I do have a question regarding Tylenol. I noticed on the bottle that it states do not take for more than 10 days. Is it ok to continue to take Tylenol for a longer period? I have been on that dose since 10/10/2018. Thanks
.
 
Just because your PT said your surgeon will expect 90 at your next appointment doesn’t mean it is true. And anyway, your knee will heal on it’s own time frame, not your surgeon’s and not your PT’s. (and not your’s either)

And forcing it to bend further than it’s ready for will not help it. Don’t allow your PT to do that again.

If your PT cannot support and encourage you, find another one. You don’t need negative feed back, this recovery is hard enough even with encouragement.

These are 2 of the reasons I will not go to PT next time. I was so stressed out about my recovery between the PT and my surgeon. I will have a different surgeon next time, and no PT.
 
D2ens5 said:
This was my third session for the week. It was going pretty good until today when the therapist did push and manipulate the knee a little more aggressively than normal. It hurt and the knee is slightly more swollen than it has been. I have my first follow up appointment with the surgeon next Wednesday 11/7/18 which will be 1 month post op. The therapist did say to me that the surgeon is going to want to see 90 degree flex at the appointment, I am currently
at 80 degrees. Told me to do the exercises he gave me over the weekend and he will measure me on Monday. So I am a little frustrated at this point.
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First, the PT manipulating your knee did more harm than good. It's not necessary either, so make sure that doesn't happen again. Remember that it's your knee and you are the boss when it comes to what happens to it.
Saying no to therapy - am I allowed to?

Second, most surgeons don't expect 90 degrees until about 6 weeks post-op, so don't worry if you're not there by one month. ROM can continue to improve for a year, or even longer, so there's no need to rush. There's no deadline you have to meet. Just continuing to make forward progress is enough, even if that progress is slow.
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR

Third, it's really not necessary to go to PT three times a week. Once is enough.
It's not exercising that gets you your ROM - it's time. Time to recover, time for swelling and pain to settle, and time to heal. Your ROM is there right from the start, just waiting for all that to happen, so it can show itself.
 
Back off on the exercises and aggressive bending and ice and elevate over the next few days so that your knee will have the best chance of decreasing inflammation and swelling before your OS appt. It sounds like you were doing fine up until your PT got aggressive. I didn't hit 90 until the 6 week mark - and barely by then -- and I"ll bet my flexion would've been better but I was seriously overexercising. I'm having #2 in 10 days and I'm gonna do my own case study of one :snork: knee #1 - exercising fool and founding member of the Super Swelling, Slow Bending Stiffs Club; knee #2 - more sloth-like - walking, ADLs, resting, icing, and elevating. My hypothesis is that I will have a better recovery. Stay tuned . . :yes:.
 
Jockette said:
Just because your PT said your surgeon will expect 90 at your next appointment doesn’t mean it is true.
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Exactly! If we had a nickel for every PT "threat" about what the doctor "wants to see" we'd go a long way toward supporting Bonesmart's expenses. My first PT did that and the OS didn't measure or anything--just had me show him how I could bend and straighten and said "keep doing what you're doing." (Which was very minimal exercise and lots of icing and elevating.)
My second PT (for knee #2) was more sensible and knew a swollen knee won't bend.
 
kneeper said:
Exactly! If we had a nickel for every PT "threat" about what the doctor "wants to see" we'd go a long way toward supporting Bonesmart's expenses.
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I like this analogy!
 
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