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TKR Smarttoys recovery

@smarttoys, sounds like you have a good PT person! I have a lot of swelling and my PT also advised against doing too much. I will miss her when I start outpatient PT next week.:cry:
 
Hi @smarttoys ! They had to remove my old ACL hardware as well. I can also add myself to the clunky knee list. My PT in the hospital said that some of that might go away when the swelling goes down, but as said above, unless it hurts or causes more swelling not to worry. Sounds like you are doing pretty well!
 
I haven't had pt since I left the hospital but I have been doing all the exercises they did and more. Today I managed to lift my leg off the bed quite high by myself :yes!: also I am bending my knee sitting on the bed and each dad it's getting a little better . I will see after the staples are out to start outside therapy . Right now I am happy with my progress. :ok:
 
@macduf387 keep up the good work!

I am still able to do all the stretches and exercises that I was doing in the hospital but the pain was increased and range of motion was reduced with all the swelling. Last night was my first official PT appointment since leaving the hospital. I hope I have the same therapist for awhile. He seems like a good one. He wants me to be careful that I don't over work the knee and make it angry. Basically that it's important to lightly work the joint and muscles but overdoing it will be counterproductive.

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@smarttoys yip sometimes less is more . You definitely not want an angry knee.

I also found after I got home and started moving around more I started to have more swelling so have been icing with my don joy ice machine and keeping swelling down hence naturally getting more movement out of knee. :yay: That and taking the pain mess on time, every 5 hrs is working great for me.
 
@smarttoys, if you do get a different PT, don't be afraid to speak up and tell them what you want. I definitely agree that the pain and swelling increase when we get home - but then again, we are doing more on a very unhappy knee. I see from your post time that you were up very early -or your post didn't come through until later. How are you sleeping? Eating well? I hope you have a peaceful day.
 
@Timetolive I have been sleeping pretty well. I was just up taking my meds and changing my ice. I did have a rough evening before and after PT but not because of PT. I think my medications were messing with me. I'm feeling pretty good now.

I know I'm being impatient but I am ready for some of this swelling to go away. I've been icing and elevating around the clock since I came home from the hospital and it just seems to stay the same or get worse. It doesn't help that when I asked my OS's nurse about it she said that if I'm swelling then I'm not icing and elevating enough.:shrug:
 
@nerdgrrl did they give you your old ACL hardware to take home? They cleaned up my old hardware and put it in a bag for me to take home. My kids thought it was cool.
 
Here is something my PT told me to do to get the swelling down. I bought a 55 centimeter exercise ball - so kind of big, and I put my foot on top of it and gently roll it toward me and away from me. Just very mid-range motion never pushing even to the point of tightness just pumping that knee back and forth. It really helps get the fluids moving. And it does not hurt one bit. Amazon had a early Black Friday deal and I got it for $11 and change. Including the foot pump. Also helps to do your best to eliminate salt from your diet. Good luck.
 
@Slainte
Did your PT give you a number on how many to do like 3 sets of 10 or something like that?
 
No, he didn't. He said to do it when watching TV, just rest the foot up there and move it back and forth when I thought about it. I put the ball up in my bed to do it. Even while just resting, gives you great elevation for gravity to do its work.
 
Hi- I had my TKR on Nov 16th and have been reading your posts. I am also still swollen, so I am going to try the exercise ball. Hope you are doing well today. :thumb:
 
@Megan Thank you for asking. Hang in there, I know it can be frustrating.

My swelling may to be a little better but it's hard to tell. It doesn't seem to be any worse, thank goodness. I've been using the exercise ball a couple times a day while in bed and not for very long each time. I spend as much time icing and elevating as I can tolerate but sometimes I just need to change positions for comfort. I massage my leg a few times a day, upward motion only. I don't know if it really helps with the swelling but it feels good. I was able to do a little recumbent exercise bike for the first time today. Only for a minute or two but it felt good to move the joint more. Hopefully I don't regret it since I have PT this evening.

John
 
Thank you John- I just ordered an exercise ball from Amazon- using it sounds like an easy way to work on ROM
 
I had my second official PT appointment this evening. It went well. I'm still happy with the therapist I have. He explained everything he was doing and why and he was careful to not do anything to the point of pain. Some discomfort but no pain. He did some massage during some of the stretches that seemed to help. I finish up the session with 15 minutes in the Game Day cold compression wrap while doing a static leg extension stretch.

I'm now having trouble with straight leg raises. I was able to do them for a couple days after my surgery but now I am having trouble with them. I have a lot of pain on the side of my knee cap when attempting to do them. Part of the problem is getting my quads to wake up and work properly and the other part is an old high school injury where I completely tore the very front quad muscle. There is just a big gap where the muscle should be. I guess I really can't call that muscle group a quad anymore. Apparently I don't have an even pull on my knee cap right now which is causing the pain. For now I am supposed to avoid doing them. Hopefully I can work around this once I am far enough along to do more strengthening exercises.

Range of motion is not great but I'm getting there. 90 flexion and -2 extension. Extension has been pretty good from the start 0 to -2 so I don't spend too much time on that. I don't want to push flexion too hard with all the swelling and I don't want to put too much strain on my incision area since I'm only 9 days out of surgery. Just internal stitches and glue on the outside.
 
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Wow! 9 days out and already at 90 is great!! Even though I never had an injury to my quad befor the TKR there were days I could do straight leg raises and days I couldn't. It's that 2 steps forward and one step back!!
 
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