TKR Right TKR on 11/28/23

[Susie-Q]

My first knee seemed to suffer from this stiffness more than my second. Anytime I sat at the desk in our den even if I propped it up on a footstool. Sitting in the car for anything longer than 10 min also. I remember with that first knee that it took 5-6 months for that stiffness to ease. Hopefully yours won't last as long but just know that it's totally normal.

 

[Layla]

Happy One Month Anniversary, berman!
I hope you're enjoying the holiday season and looking forward to more healing in the New Year.
Wishing you all the best in 2024!
@berman2921

 

[Layla]

Happy Two Month Anniversary!
We haven't heard from you in awhile and wonder how your recovery is going? Please let us know if you have the time.
Hope to hear from you soon!
@berman2921

 

[berman2921]

Thank you very much for reminding me of my two month anniversary I am doing pretty good all things considered. The main achievement for me is an ability to sleep on my side which greatly improved my sleep. I caused a little setback in terms of pain walking 17,000 steps two days in a row while on vacation in FL. So I started Celebrex this week to help with pain while walking. I am having my two month doctor’s appointment on Wednesday and will post his feedback here then. Thanks again and happy recovery to everyone!

 

[benne68]

17,000 steps two days in a row while on vacation in FL

Wow! That's a LOT of steps for 2 months out. No wonder your pain is up.

If you aren't already, be sure to ice and elevate as much as possible in addition to taking take those pain meds. I'm sure you'll be back to yourself in a few days.

Hope you enjoyed your vacation!

 

[MSuki]

Wow, I can’t even imagine being able to do that much walking, it’s been a long time!

 

[Susie-Q]

walking 17,000 steps two days in a row while on vacation in FL

I can't imagine walking this much at 2 months post-op either!!!

 

[sistersinhim]

I don't want that much now!

 

[berman2921]

Hello there, It will be 3 months in 6 days since the surgery. The knee is still stiff and painful. The doctor put me on Celebrex 400mgs for a week and then 200 mgs next week. The knee was much less painful while on Celebrex but returned to being painful and stiff when I came off it. I greatly reduced my walking but not relief so far. This recovery is definitely much slower than the previous knee one, and I started having doubts if something is really wrong with the knee.

 

[mendogal]

Reducing walking is a very good idea.

At three months I couldn't walk two miles. And from observing our members, three months is often the start of a danger zone where people want to stop icing and elevating. But when we want to be active, even at five or six months we often elevate and ice because of overdoing things.

 

[berman2921]

I have to admit I'm not doing much icing and elevation. Will try to do much better in this area, thank you

 

[AnnYo]

@berman2921 I am at the same place--I had almost completely stopped icing and now am sitting here doing it again as I type this lol! I have the same pain and stiffness you describe and feel like I'm on that plateau. It causes me some worry but this is one of those many times when I'm trying to rely on the people on this forum who describe this exact sequence on the way to their eventual good outcome. I am a tennis player and was contemplating when to try hitting a little again but lately feel like I haven't quite gotten there yet. Hang in there.

 

[berman2921]

Thank you for the encouraging words. Both of my TKRs were mostly caused by too much tennis on hard courts. This lack of progress is really disconcerting especially since my first tkr had a faster recovery

 

[sistersinhim]

No two knees are the same, even on the same body. There are the differences of the presurgery damage and the work that had to be done to replace the joint.

 

[berman2921]

I understand that but I expected the right knee tkr to be better since it was in a better state with almost no pain before the surgery. It was done by a different surgeon who used a different prosthesis though

 

[benne68]

I expected the right knee tkr to be better since it was in a better state with almost no pain before the surgery.

Just because there was little pain, doesn't mean the internal condition of the knee was "good."

My left knee was much more painful than my right knee -- but rightie was in much worse condition once the surgeon got in there and that recovery was hard. When the same surgeon did my left knee -- more painful knee -- this past December, he told me after surgery "you are going to be much happier with this knee" based on what he found when he was operating.

It was done by a different surgeon who used a different prosthesis

That's also likely a contributing factor.

Listen to your knee -- it knows what it needs!

 

[berman2921]

Thank you very much for the kind words and advice, everyone. It was just that in many places on the internet it says that in two to three months after TKR you should be almost pain free and definitely better than before the surgery which is absolutely not the case with me

 

[benne68]

It was just that in many places on the internet it says that in two to three months after TKR you should be almost pain free

And this is why it's best not to depend on "Dr. Google" for truth. I know it's hard not to look for information, but -- for our own sanity -- we need to stick with credible sources (the ones that have .org or .edu in their addresses)!

 

[Layla]

This lack of progress is really disconcerting especially since my first tkr had a faster recovery

I imagine this does weigh on you because your expectations were higher, given your first recovery.
Check this out -

At only three months post op I believe you still have lots of progress ahead of you, so hang in there, better days are coming!

 

[EalingGran]

It was just that in many places on the internet it says that in two to three months after TKR you should be almost pain free and definitely better than before the surgery which is absolutely not the case

There are really very very few people for whom that is true. I could walk good distances by three months but I still had warmth and soreness which needed regular icing, and some sharper pain on stairs. I carried on icing for over 8 months and I found it helpful.