OP
OP
robert johnson
member
Well, this is my 1-year Anniversary 
wow:
), and for the most part I have very little to complain about. Not to say everything went perfectly though. The hip injury (which is what it was) was somewhat of a setback (2 full months walking with a cane), but once the doctor convinced me it was nothing serious, just a pulled (sore/over-exerted) hip flexor muscle and not a tear, I was able to slowly work my way out of it by deep massage with my thumb and forefinger. I'm back to walking normally again.
The way he convinced me was by telling me if it was a tear there would have been an "event"--you know, something you immediately go to urgent care for--and not something where the pain gradually shows up 72 hours after the fact, which it did. Knowing this enabled me to forget about it, and give it enough time to heal.
Regarding my knee, I only have one slight reservation and that's the fact I that have a little less flexion in my right knee than I did with my left. A small price to pay, considering how flawless this recovery was compared to my last. Unless I plop down in a very low chair, like a beach chair, I rarely ever even notice it.
It's interesting how the trade-offs work out, and I can see why the Moderators here stress the fact that no two knees are the same. That's a very wise point to stress. I once asked my surgeon a "how could you possibly not know..." type of question and his answer was exactly that: "Every knee is different, so there's no way to know ahead of time exactly what you'll face."
Reflecting on the recovery, I find it very interesting how things come and go, in a form of slow, or even glacial, change. I remember back to the first two months how sure I was that I had major back problems. I was positive that my lumbar stenosis had gotten severely worse during the years I was walking with a cane, and that sooner or later, I would need back surgery. It was that debilitating for at least three months.
As it turned out, daily walking without a cane turned out to be the cure. Who would have thought? The problem was walking with a cane for all those years. I have no back pain at all now. Maybe once in a while if I wake up on my back, I may notice something for a second or two when I get up, but that's about it.
I still have a small amount of pain walking up and down stairs, but the winter is here and in wet weather I don't think it's fair to form a final judgement. I suspect in warmer drier weather that will go away, since I wasn't really noticing it back in Sep before I hurt my hip.
I'm back to taking daily walks in the evening, and while I'm walking, I almost don't even notice my knees. Even my left knee seems to be better than it was four or five years ago. It probably likes having another new knee to carry some of the weight.
Well, good luck to everyone on their journey, and keep the faith.
Robert
wow:), and for the most part I have very little to complain about. Not to say everything went perfectly though. The hip injury (which is what it was) was somewhat of a setback (2 full months walking with a cane), but once the doctor convinced me it was nothing serious, just a pulled (sore/over-exerted) hip flexor muscle and not a tear, I was able to slowly work my way out of it by deep massage with my thumb and forefinger. I'm back to walking normally again.The way he convinced me was by telling me if it was a tear there would have been an "event"--you know, something you immediately go to urgent care for--and not something where the pain gradually shows up 72 hours after the fact, which it did. Knowing this enabled me to forget about it, and give it enough time to heal.
Regarding my knee, I only have one slight reservation and that's the fact I that have a little less flexion in my right knee than I did with my left. A small price to pay, considering how flawless this recovery was compared to my last. Unless I plop down in a very low chair, like a beach chair, I rarely ever even notice it.
It's interesting how the trade-offs work out, and I can see why the Moderators here stress the fact that no two knees are the same. That's a very wise point to stress. I once asked my surgeon a "how could you possibly not know..." type of question and his answer was exactly that: "Every knee is different, so there's no way to know ahead of time exactly what you'll face."
Reflecting on the recovery, I find it very interesting how things come and go, in a form of slow, or even glacial, change. I remember back to the first two months how sure I was that I had major back problems. I was positive that my lumbar stenosis had gotten severely worse during the years I was walking with a cane, and that sooner or later, I would need back surgery. It was that debilitating for at least three months.
As it turned out, daily walking without a cane turned out to be the cure. Who would have thought? The problem was walking with a cane for all those years. I have no back pain at all now. Maybe once in a while if I wake up on my back, I may notice something for a second or two when I get up, but that's about it.
I still have a small amount of pain walking up and down stairs, but the winter is here and in wet weather I don't think it's fair to form a final judgement. I suspect in warmer drier weather that will go away, since I wasn't really noticing it back in Sep before I hurt my hip.
I'm back to taking daily walks in the evening, and while I'm walking, I almost don't even notice my knees. Even my left knee seems to be better than it was four or five years ago. It probably likes having another new knee to carry some of the weight.
Well, good luck to everyone on their journey, and keep the faith.
Robert
United States
