You'll have to decide for yourself whether the ability to kneel is something you want or not. I'm assuming you have no pain when you try and kneel on your new knee....right? If there was pain, then that's another matter entirely!
But the feeling of kneeling on an artificial knee is quite unique. It doesn't hurt really. It just feels....strangely uncomfortable for some reason. I believe most people can overcome these issues if you work at it, so here is what I recommend if you want to kneel at some point.
I suggest you wait until you have both knees fully recovered. There is absolutely no hurry to teach yourself to kneel. But it will help you to have some leg strength back and all the arthritic pain gone.
Then, start out kneeling for short periods on your bed for several weeks. Gradually increase the time kneeling on your bed to 15-30 minutes. Then graduate to something just a little less soft and do the same thing....like a foam piece or pillow on the floor or a heavily padded carpet floor. Once you've worked up to that 15-30 minutes, then try just a rug for a week or so.....then maybe kneeling in the grass (like you would do when gardening) or on wood or vinyl floors. Last effort would be to kneel on a hard surface such as concrete or tile.
Over time, I have experimented with all of these surfaces and found what suits me. I can kneel briefly on any surface to do a quick task like retrieving something from under furniture in the house or a car on the driveway. I can kneel on wood to do projects like drilling screws into a deck as long as I don't stay on my knees for long periods. For longer times I use a foam pad and it works fine. There is no pain ever, but I just don't like the feeling of "oddness." I can kneel for extended periods on a foam pad or soft carpet.
Recently I attempted an exercise at the gym with my trainer that required kneeling on a 4 inch foam pad. My hands were up on a weight bench and I was doing pushups. I did three sets of 10 pushups with a walk around the track in between each set. While it didn't hurt at the time, I did get some knee pain afterwards and realized it was the movement that was the problem. In doing the exercise, you actually grind your patella back and forth with the push up motion. I discussed that with my surgeon next time I saw him and he agreed that was not a good plan as the motion could result in premature wear on the patella button or other problems with the knee cap. So, I suggest you stay away from anything kneeling that involves that rolling motion over the kneecap that pushups give you.
So....basically, your kneeling future is your choice. Some folks opt never to do it. Others want and need to and they do find a way. If you decide to work on it, please let us know how things go.
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