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TKR Slow and Steady Recovery

The frozen bottles of water are working good for me, I dry off old ones, I have a walker bag I can place them in and just replace with frozen bottles from kitchen. I plan to use this machine anytime I have my leg elevated, it sure helps with the burning and throbbing pain.
 
Oh yeah! I was addicted you my ice machine! And I still have ice packs in the freeze 'just in case'!
 
@sistersinhim, I just ordered me a walker with a seat It will help me move heavy items as well as being able to sit when needed. My time release pain meds that were inserted in my wound have definitely worn out. I have no pain when walking, it's when I try elevating and icing because of swelling. Staples come out tomorrow, hoping that will help
 
Great that you're getting that rolling walker with a seat! It helped me a huge amount! Getting those staples out will make you feel so much better! No more bad pulling!
 
Wow sounds like your hospital experience was not good. That is too bad. Glad you are home where you are in control!

I understand the bandage issue. I was given one week of home health and they provided island bandages for that week. My doctor wants daily bandage change with iodine. I have no idea where to get those bandages for another week and a half.

I think the ice machines are a Godsend. Sure eases the pain! Hang in there and baby that knee! Let it heal and try and enjoy your recovery (not always possible, I know)!
 
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It's been 2 weeks today since surgery. I'm only able to bend at 45 degrees. PT is not happy with me and I'm really thinking of cancelling tomorrow...I've been in pain all day from having PT yesterday...please tell me it will get to at least 90 degrees Soon. It's still hot to the touch and swelling. I'm elevating and icing constantly. I was hoping to be farther along than I am. Is anyone else where I am today in their recovery?
 
You need to stop PT until your pain and swelling gets under control. You are hurting and more swollen because your knee isn't ready for what you did in PT. You don't need to take PT, just your ADL, (activities of daily living), is all your knee needs to rehab itself. Exercising doesn't increase your ROM, icing, elevating and gentle movements is all you need. As long as you are swollen and in pain, PT is counter productive and doing more harm than good.
 
@sistersinhim, thank you. I'm thinking the same thing. I'm going to give up PT for a while...I had thought I would be able to go back to work next week but I'm rethinking that. I work Wednesday-Friday office work but I think I might need a few more weeks.
 
Oh yeah, you are way too early in your recovery to even think about going back to work. Your knee and your body need to heal much, much more before even considering going back to work. The only job you should be doing right now is to heal your knee. That's your #1 job for the next few months!
 
Your knee won't suffer if you don't go to :PT. It needs time and gentle treatment, so it can heal.
My surgeon doesn't allow any PT at all for the first month after a knee replacement. He says your knee needs that time, to start on its journey of healing. For that month, we rest, ice and elevate our leg, and walk around the house.
After that month, we just go to PT once every 2 weeks, where we are shown a few new exercises to do at home.
His patients all do well and achieve good ROM, as I did, and he hasn't had to do a manipulation to help with ROM for the past 4 years. I think that speaks for itself.

Don't worry about the ROM.
There's no need to rush to get ROM (Range of Motion) because it can continue to improve for a year, or even much longer, after a knee replacement. There isn't any deadline you have to meet:
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
 
I had my second TKR on September 27 also. I cannot even imagine doing anything like going back to work. I spend day and night doing ice and elevation and taking pain meds. I am at 90 degrees now and I am doing some very gentle PT like heel slides and quadsets.

My first TKR was June 14. It was a little easier recovery and got to 130 degrees at 6 weeks, but I could not have gone back to work until about 3 months. Sitting with my leg down caused aching and swelling up to that point. Very uncomfortable!

Take your time and heal. I started doing strength training with my first one at about 9 or 10 weeks and it set me back. I had to go back to lots of ice and elevation for several weeks to get my knee to calm down.

This time I am taking it nice and slow! A year from now I want to be strong and ready to take on the world!!
 
@ Llove3, I'm not looking forward to going back to work either☹️, I'm going to try going for a half day I think, I have some reports to do and I think I can get them done it that period of time...I'll be bringing my polar ice knee wrap with me I just ordered the Lounge Doctor, I'm tired of all the pillows. You're doing great at 90 degrees! I have been massaging and working my knee, I think it's bending a little more than it was the first of the week. I thought I would be further along by now but I'm still elevating, icing and resting. I'm taking 2 Tylenol 650 during the day, and my pain meds at night which is working out ok. I still get the Zingers! That unexplained shooting pain
 
I know it is frustrating not to make progress. At this point, two weeks out, with my first TKR I was at 114 degrees. So 90 degrees seems terrible. I just have to not compare. Every knee is different. But that is so hard!!!

I could return to a desk job at this point in my recovery except for not being able to elevate. That aching from having my leg hanging down is what is so hard for me. As I said, with my first knee, I reached the goals really early but that problem with gravity continued until almost 3 months.

Sounds like you have a plan for your work situation. Be careful and treat your new knee gently. Better days are coming!
 
Two weeks is far too early to even think about going back to work.
Did no one ever tell you that knee replacement is one of the most major operations you could have? Complete recovery takes as long as a full year, although you will feel much better long before that.

We advise taking about 12 weeks off work and then doing a Phased return to work

Even if you can do short hours and elevate and ice, your knee become more swollen and painful. It's not just what you do at work. It's getting ready for work and travelling there and back.
In addition, this early in recovery, you will still have some brain fog and you shouldn't make any big decision at this time.

We had a small business that we ran from our home. At about 4 weeks post-op, I started doing a bit of office-type work - emails and simple spreadsheets. But I did that on my laptop, while I was in bed, with my leg elevated and iced. I asked my husband to check financial entries, and he discovered I had made a couple of simple mistakes. I really wasn't clear-headed enough, so it pays to get your numbers checked!
 
You're only a couple of weeks out from surgery. It is totally normal for the knee to be warm (even hot) and you are unlikely to notice much change in your bend yet. Spending most of the day icing and elevating is the agenda for now.
 
@kneeper
Thank you! It's hard not to be discouraged when you have people telling you they were driving after 1 week...I'm really trying to get it to bend a little more everyday by massaging and working the knee with my hands. I have been using a cane in the house today but if I go outside its definitely with my walker. I'm elevating and icing constantly.
 
If it was me, I wouldn’t be massaging and working the knee. It’s only been a couple of weeks, I think it just needs to rest and heal. I didn’t touch mine at that point.

I am constantly amazed at how much pressure other people put on a person recovering from knee replacement. If we had any other type of surgery I dont think we’d hear how much further along we should be. And the stories of so and so did blank at 1 week are just that. Stories. Before surgery I had no idea people went through so much emotional stress when recovering and the unrealistic expectations from the medical profession who you’d think would know better.

The best part of our recovery was finding Bonesmart with its support and understanding and the knowledge they gave us about a different approach that makes much more sense than what we’d experienced before finding Bonesmart!
 
Yes, the knee is pretty traumatized still, I wouldn't be massaging it yet.
 
Don't compare yourself to others. Everyone is different. Every knee is different.

I had my LTKR in June. I had a bend of 117 degrees at 3 weeks. With my RTKR, done September 27, is barely at 90 degrees. I have had a lot more pain with this one. Same patient, same doctor!

Fortunately I have been on this site and decided not to push it. I have been doing my ice machine and elevating constantly. Just today I got a bit more bend. I know it will come!

Listen to your knee!! You will be glad you did!
 
hempsteadjb said:
Thank you! It's hard not to be discouraged when you have people telling you they were driving after 1 week...
Click to expand...
I don't believe them! I have never heard of anyone being able to drive as early as that. Most of us don't start driving until about 6 weeks at the earliest.

There are too many stories floating around of recoveries like that - "My best friend's cousin's great-aunt Mary leapt off the operating table, danced down the hallways and was ski-ing a week later." Yeah, right! Pure urban myth!
If they truly were driving at one week, they can't have had a knee replacement.

Don't let stories like that worry you one little bit. They're either pure fiction, or the result of a faulty memory that has collapsed the time frame of their recovery.

It's not even a month since you had this major surgery. Your knee is wounded and it needs time and gentle treatment, so it can heal.
 
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