Bilateral PKR Shin pain

[Kitty5193]

Hi
I had double PKR 7 weeks ago, left knee is ok, right knee very painful whenever I put weight on it, pain is just below the knee on left hand side. My surgeon re xrayed and said it was ok, said could be soft tissue but didn't seem to know I can't walk more than 5 minutes. Can anyone help,, I'm pretty desperate.

 

[Pumpkin]

@Kitty5193 ,
Welcome to BoneSmart, glad you joined us!
Given the location of your pain it may be Pes Anserine and MPFL pain , the link will give you more information.

Please post your surgery date, a moderator will add it to your signature for you. Having the exact date will help us properly advise you. Thanks!

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:

​

rest​

elevate​

ice​

take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​

don't overwork.​

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

​

the BoneSmart view on exercise​

BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy​

5. At week 4 and after you should follow this

​

Activity progression for TKRs​

6. Access these pages on the website

​

Oral And Intravenous Pain Medications​

Wound Closure​

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.

 

[partialfixFeb]

Curious....did you have Makoplasty and, if so, is the shin pain where the leg was pinned down for the surgery? I had pain where my quad was pinned down but not where the shin was pinned down.

 

[Kitty5193]

Hi
My surgery date was feb 22nd 2020

 

[Kitty5193]

Curious....did you have Makoplasty and, if so, is the shin pain where the leg was pinned down for the surgery? I had pain where my quad was pinned down but not where the shin was pinned down.

No it was not Makoplasty

 

[Jockette]

Hi, Kitty5193, I also had a partial, mine is a Patellofemoral. Which one is yours, that or medial or lateral?

My recovery was nothing like I expected. Everything I read about partials before my surgery made it all sound pretty easy, with a short recovery. Is that what you were also expecting?

Not so! Until I found Bonesmart I didn’t know that partials actually do take a year for complete healing, just like a total.

 

[Kitty5193]

Hi Jockette
It was Bi lateral partial replacement
My surgeon made it sound so easy and pain free beforehand.
So happy to have discovered this site, because of Covid19 I couldnt
Find anyone to discuss this with, and don’t know what to do.
My surgeon wasn’t particularly helpful when I consulted him about the pain
and I was considering getting a second opinion.
The pain in the right knee is making it difficult to walk.
Is this normal at 7.5 weeks?
Thank you

 

[Pumpkin]

The pain in the right knee is making it difficult to walk.
Is this normal at 7.5 weeks?

Pain at 7.5 weeks is normal, most start feeling better around 12 weeks, and as you have discovered, each knee recovers on its own time line.
Here is an article about Pes Anserine and MPFL pain , apologies the link I left earlier was not working.

 

[Jockette]

Here is a possible explanation of why one knee might recover differently from the other. One of our members, @maryo52 posted this:

“I watched a bilateral knee replacement when I was a nursing student. The patient happened to be a neighbor. It was quite a comfort to him that I was there. I was not that physically close to the surgical area because that's a super-sterile area. They wear space suits so they're not even breathing near the wound. I was by the patient's head. They did the left knee first and then the right, which went easier because they'd figured out the correct components on the left which means there was more tourniquet time, more putting on and taking off of components, and generally tweaking of the artificial joint on the left. So it was no surprise that the patient's right knee recovered more easily and with less swelling. Who knows how much each of our knees get tweaked and manipulated during the surgery, resulting in more tissue trauma?”

 

[Kitty5193]

Thank you so much, feel better already for just talking to both of you

 

[Jockette]

Hang out here with us.
Bonesmart has a wealth of advice, information and support.
We will offer helpful suggestions,

Cheer your accomplishments

And send hugs when you are feeling down.

Best wishes!

 

[Kitty5193]

Just wondering what exercises I should be doing to help my right knee/shin,
Walking is pretty painful, should I push it?
I use the foot peddles about 2 x 15mins and this doesn’t cause any discomfort.
Any ideas what I can do to move myself along?

 

[Sara61]

If you find any exercises painful Stop, its your knee/body telling you that you are over doing it, rest, ice and elevation is the key to our recoveries, however at this stage ADL ( daily living activities) will give you all the exercise you need, carry on using the foot peddle as the rotating movement will keep the joint flexible. With time everything will get easier xxx

 

[Kitty5193]

Thank you, all so helpful x

 

[Tykey]

Shin pain is very often caused by using the front end of the foot too much, it puts real strain up the shin. It's not used too much in normal activities prior to the tkr.
I'm not sure what foot pedals are supposed to achieve, but I'd certainly not use them.
Stick to the ADLs, and when you walk, make sure your heel is on the floor before you roll forward onto your toes.
Examine your gait, and try to make sure your new leg is mirroring the old one.
We were all brought up with the "no pain, no gain" mantra. That's OK if you are in training, but nonsense in healing.

 

[Kitty5193]

Doc said foot pedals will strengthen thigh muscles and take some weight off knee. ‍
I had both knees done so I don’t have ‘old one’ to mirror

Thanks for your help x

 

[Tykey]

I found that shin pain (splints) never occurred during exercise, but always a day or two later.
Try to be gentle with yourself, we have months ahead of us to build muscle strength.
Good luck, Kitty

 

[Jockette]

Your thigh muscles will also strengthen all by themselves as you heal and are able to do more of your daily activities. For example, for months I could not get up off a chair without using my arms on either the seat of the chair, or the arms of the chair. Without “working on strengthening” my thigh muscles, I can now get up without the need for the chair arms. Time and healing took care of that.

Is the foot pedal like a bicycle pedal that goes around in a circle? If so, that’s fine. 2 X 15 sounds like a lot though, for 2 months post op, you might want to cut that back to 10 minutes, for now. You can always increase it later if you want to.

Walking is pretty painful, should I push it?

Walking is good, but if it’s this painful, just do very short walks until the pain gets better. Or, just let the walking you do in the course of the day count as your walking, like walking from one area of the house to another.

Things will improve with time.

 

[marieltha]

Welcome and happy new pkrs. I have 2 laterals pkrs, done 11 months apart. Very happy with both.
Neither liked using a peddler or even a peddling motion in deepwater in a pool for months. I reviewed all the tips here about recovery vs training peddling and it still just made me ache. So I stopped peddling for months. I did more leglifts to strengthen the quads and deepwater pool walking.
When I resumed the peddler, it was for 2 minutes at a time, gradually increasing over several weeks to 10 minutes at a time.

 

[Ready2HikeAgain]

Doc said foot pedals will strengthen thigh muscles and take some weight off knee. ‍
I had both knees done so I don’t have ‘old one’ to mirror

Thanks for your help x

Hi @Kitty5193 - I also had bilateral PKR on Feb 19. I was experiencing shin pain, as well, but at 6 weeks. Even pain the my ankle too. I did find that rest initially helped and even put my ice pack in those areas. But what has helped me the most is the strengthening of my quad muscles in my thighs. I had to start slowly at that and not over do it. I have a wonderful Physical Therapist who has been helping a lot.