If I don’t think it’s very hard I think I should do more. Then the next day it’s a problem.
Our knees have a funny way of letting us know the next day we did too much. Doing too much can set back your recovery, as your poor knee has to recover from over doing exercise or activity, before getting back to the hard work of healing.
Right now the hardest part of this recovery is doing less, means more healing.
It's is a fine balance,
If your knees swells or has more pain after you do something, cut that activity back for week or so before attempting it again, then only half of what you did earlier.
You will find around 3 - 4 months you will be able to do most light to moderate activities. Your knee will continue to heal over the next year+, allowing you do do more and more with out having increased symptoms the next day. Basically you will forget about your TKR, right now go slow and let that knee heal.
Here is your copy of the Knee Recovery Guidelines, the articles are short and will not take long to read.
Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1.
Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2.
Control discomfort:
3.
Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.
4.
PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5.
At week 4 and after you should follow this
6.
Access these pages on the website
The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?
Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?
There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds
We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.
While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.
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