ROM Comes and Goes

[Sylvia]

HELP!! I have really been pushing myself to increase my range of motion. Tuesday will be 7 weeks postop and yesterday during physical therapy I bent my leg to 110 degrees doing wall sldes and greatly improved on the bike. Even at home I can see improvement in ROM during my exercises. But here's the rub.....shortly after exercising and icing, I feel stiff as a board....better than a few weeks ago but still stiff. There is no way I could bend my leg to 110 without working up to it. This gets very frustrating. I keep fearing that scar tissue will build up and my leg will have to be manipulated by the doctor in the hospital. My doctor's nurse mentioned that scenario and scared the *^&* out of me. My physical therapist keeps telling me I'm doing fine. Arghhh! I really don't know what the definition of "fine" is. :pzld:

 

[ship4]

Sylvia,
You are expecting too much of yourself. You are still in the early stages of recovery. I would worry if you were at 12 weeks, not 7.......
So, exercise and do well in PT then go home and Ice and Elevate as you deserve it after a good workout. You will find as time passes you will be needing the ice less and less. But you continue to need it now, so keep it up! JMO

 

[Jamie]

Crystal is so right. Stop worrying, hon!!! Listen to your therapist and be proud. You are doing just fine for 7 weeks....that's still VERY early in your recovery and you have plenty of time to gain more ROM. No crisis here!!! Honest!

 

[Jeeper]

Sylvia,

You are doing as well. Your ROM is good and you should expect to have to warm up to reach full ROM. While I was on the CPM I would start at least 15° less than what I finished the previous session. This allowed the knee to warm up and flex better. Even athletes warm up before they practice and so should you. You will find that improvement comes in small increments. Each day or two you will find that you can do things that weren't possible a few days earlier. As you get farther from your surgery you will find the increments are smaller and it may take a week or more to notice an improvement.

This week I was able to walk alternating feet up and down stairs. I am noticing my stride is lengthening and I am not noticing the knee as much as I did a few days ago. The new knee is on the way to becoming "my knee". Yours will do the same.

Good luck.

 

[brs0660]

Sylvia...you are doing great. ROM is just a number. As you begin doing everyday living things your ROM will increase to comfortable.:thmb:

 

[tom67]

Sylvia, I think your doing GREAT! keep up the good work. Don't
forget Ice, Ice, Ice!!! Best Wishes Tom

 

[Texas]

Well Im not saying you will need a MUA but if you do I have one it was fine yes they go in under anesthesia and bend it break p the scar tissue when i got home I was sore but in a few days in was gone and boy what a difference it mad i didnt have to kill myself to bend it was amazing.......good luck keep trying though you might just get there................)I was bending 68 though to much tissue after though went straight up to 90 and never went back.........good luck to you either way you will be ok...........

 

[Josephine]

You've got no scar tissue- what you have is swelling from the surgery which will take another 5 or 6 weeks to dissipate, even more, possibly. Stop beating yourself up and scaring yourself. You're doing fine and you have plenty of time to 'get there'. People who have problems with scar tissue (more properly called adhesions) are those who can only get to 80/85 degrees at 7 weeks. Even then it's more often because of gross swelling.

How's your pain levels and pain management?

 

[cotton1958]

My ROM has slowly crept up since my surgery, almost 6 weeks ago. I go for my 1 month appt. next week. PT started mentioning the MUA thing a little bit. I finally hit 100 without too much force just this past Thursday. So he thinks I will be okay in that regard for my Dr. visit Monday.

I am probably guilty in that I do not do enough excercises at home. I do ice and elevate. So it's my own fault.

__________

BTKR 8/25/09

 

[Sylvia]

My pain levels are usually low, and I only take pain pills before physical therapy.

 

[Josephine]

My pain levels are usually low, and I only take pain pills before physical therapy.

'Usually quite low'?

But here's the rub.....shortly after exercising and icing, I feel stiff as a board....better than a few weeks ago but still stiff.

THIS tells me you have pain that needs to be treated. Feeling stiff is pain. Take the meds and you won't feel stiff.

 

[cindy88fan]

Sylvia...you are doing great!!! Stop being so worried about this. You ARE doing fine! Keep doing your wall slides. That really worked for me...It felt so good especially when you got to the point where you can't slide down anymore and you push it a bit more and hold it...feels so good! I feel stiff once in awhile but that happens when I decide to be a lazy and sit and watch TV... my own fault! So I take an Aleve.

 

[backbay38]

Even natural knees can stiffen up when you just sit and don't move them. With the TKR - as others have said - that gets less and less as time goes on. But I still work my knee every morning when I get up and quickly see the difference in the bend from when I start to when I finish. Jo told you about the swelling and until that goes totally away yu will always have some sense of stiffness. But the good news is it DOES go away and you're right at the point where you will begin to enjoy your new knee more and more each day. I really saw a diference after about 2 months. And I was doing fine right from the start and even so... I could see that change. If you work with your PT and do additional exercises at home on the off days you'll be just fine!

 

[Luke 46]

Sylvia,

I was in the same place you were. Once, I switched to advil to help mange the inflamation and the hot tub I started making gains. I am now 3 months out and stil have swelling but I am at 135+ on a good day. This weekend I hiked 2 miles and kicked a soccer ball with my son. It gets better

 

[tom67]

Hey Sylvia, Hang In there, Great Job! All My best , Tom

 

[Sylvia]

Everyone keeps telling me everything will be fine. However, it is getting so darn frustrating because I work so hard and see so little progress...not to mention I am tired of being in pain and limping around after almost 2 months. I know I am whining...forgive me for that...just having a "poor me" day". Thanks for the encouraging words...I'm off to physical therapy.

 

[Josephine]

Well, stop working so hard and treat your pain more! Then you might get to see some progress. Hard graft with pain = zero effect.

 

[Sylvia]

Now there's a thought...I will try and do just that. Thanks so much...I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Jamie]

I truly understand how you feel, Sylvia. At two months, it seems in most people's minds they should be doing really well...after all, it's been MONTHS! But the reality of knee surgery is that it can (and usually does) take many months before you begin to feel "normal" again. It is so hard to be patient...I felt just as you do during my recovery. Progress seemed so slow.

Jo is absolutely right that you simply MUST keep your pain under control in order to feel more human. But once you have mastered that, try writing down every day or two what you can do at that point. At the end of a few weeks, you'll have visual proof of the progress you've made! It comes slowly, but it does come.

And never hesitate to come here and vent. We've been where you are and we understand! Completely!!! (((HUGS)))

 

[HyperZen]

Sylvia, I am in the same boat. I have my two-month check in with my OS's PA on Friday and I am guessing they are not going to be thrilled with my ROM. But my theory is, I can only get as far as I can get on any given day. No amount of stress or pushing or pulling or worrying is going to get me farther. I do what I can and work every day to improve, but it's not going to result in 10 degrees at once.

I am also finally coming to understand and accept how slow this process is and how traumatic it was for my body. Jamie is right. We think after two months we "should" be farther along, but the truth is that we are only as far as we are and we can only go so far at any one time. But looking back even just to last week, I can do so much more now. ROM will come as the swelling goes and I can stretch and hold for longer. We are not good at taking it easy in our culture, but this process is a gift to learn how. There's a fear that if we stop pushing, we are lazy and will go "backward" but if you trust yourself (I'm finally there!) you know that you are not lazy and that your body needs the rest after effort.

Do what you can and give yourself permission to recover.