TKR SZone's Recovery Thread

Happy Birthday! :flwrysmile:

I noticed I was able to go up the stairs recently one at a time and it really was a revelation! My PT says going up comes first and going down will take more time yet. You might find that your quads will be a tiny bit sore after such an accomplishment but maybe not? Mine were.

I'm anxious to take a bath again too but need to practice getting in and out of the tub first and make sure I actually can!
 
Happy Birthday!!! :flwrysmile:

Walking upstairs foot over foot is quite an accomplishment, and you managed it quite early in recovery! :wowspring:

Thank you! My initial surgery date was cancelled and rescheduled, so I had several months before my surgery and worked very hard to build my quad strength. I bought a spin bike that I rode several times per week and also did glutes and legs classes multiple times per week. I think this is probably the reason. This morning I was able to walk down the stairs, although it was not as easy and my knee did complain a little bit. I’m icing now and will monitor to see how my knee reacts before I attempt it again.
 
@Susie-Q , thank you for the birthday wishes! Somehow being 60 sounds Much older than 59! I’m going to have to get used to this. Congratulations on walking up the stairs. It’s silly how excited I was about it. I did not have any resulting pain! So, yay for that. This morning I walked down the stairs, holding tightly to the rail. My knee was complaining a bit by the time I got to the bottom. We’ll how it does through the day but I anticipate some amount of resulting pain. It feels good to be moving forward And this was a nice birthday present to myself!
 
Happy Birthday to yooooooouuuuuuu!:SUNsmile:
 
@SZone :flwrysmile: Happy Birthday, young lady :eyebrows: If you think 60 feels old just wait 'til you get to be 74. :curtsey: Wishing you a fantastic day!
 
Somehow being 60 sounds Much older than 59!

I'm right behind you! My hubby turned 58 this summer. Can't believe we're this old.....I still feel like I should be 30!
 
Somehow being 60 sounds Much older than 59!

I'm right behind you! My hubby turned 58 this summer. Can't believe we're this old.....I still feel like I should be 30!

No kidding! I’m not sure how this even happened! But, on a positive note I am going to be retiring at the end of December. I will return to work on 11/1 and then will only have two months to go!
 
“HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY” SZone!
What a massive year for you, a new knee, 60 & retiring. I’m a year behind you but intend on doing the same next year, except for a new knee, one of those is enough for now.
 
Happy Birthday! Retirement, if anything like my own, isn’t just sitting around doing nothing! I somehow seem busier now than when I was working! But I know you will enjoy that time, especially having a new, pain-free knee!
 
Hi, and Happy Birthday, a few days late!( my Papa always said when I was late on cards, etc.... you’re not late, honey child....you’re just stretching it out!)☺. Congratulations on your stairs victory! I’m still not there on foot over foot ( my surgery Oct 6, so 2 weeks out.) our home is 2-story, but the stairs are split, so, half way up, landing, then the other half. My husband is very good at “fixing” in our home. And, he is a woodworker. When my knee got really bad, stairs ( bedrooms & my sewing room upstairs), he installed a rail on the side with no rail. I don’t think builders commonly do this, just one side. It has been, before, and, after my Sugery, an IMMENSE aid!! Likewise to our basement ( laundry & most of our staples food storage wise). Always a rail I can use, no matter if I’m going up or down. One other big help, I think, like you......pre-op strengthening. My surgeon gave me a list of exercises to be done 2x daily. They stressed that this would help in recovery. I had roughly 6 weeks, & tried my best to be faithful. It has paid off - strengthened muscles, and , many are the ones I still do post-op, so totally familiar to me!
Good luck on recovery, & keep enjoying that milestone Birthday!
 
9 Week Check in

Overall, I think I am doing pretty well. I met with my surgeon last week and they don't want to see me again until next September! They did not take xrays, which I thought was unusual compared to others here. My ROM is good at 0-130. I have been riding my spin bike for 30 minutes at a time and have gone on several walks of 1 mile or more. I need to be more diligent with my walking. Since my in home PT ended a few weeks ago, I have been doing my own thing as I wanted to get my ROM nailed down before focusing too much on strength. I can walk up and down stairs using both legs and I can get in and out of my little Mercedes SLC without adjusting the seat first! I plan to start up my external PT soon as I'd like a professional's opinion on my gate and specific strength exercises I should be focusing on. All of this is positive. However....

Here is my question. Can anyone tell me if this is normal, or if this is something going south in my new knee. If you are doing the exercise where you are sitting in a chair and sliding your foot back as far as you can.... I have a lot of ROM, so even with my tennis shoes on, I can easily pull my foot back far enough so that I am up on my toes. This does not hurt, but I can definitely feel the stretch. Here's where my question comes in. When I am in that position, is it normal for my tibia to noticeably drop forward (towards the floor), or should my tibia be stable and stay solidly in line with my knee? This is a very noticeable clunking forward feeling and if your hand is on my knee it is something you can easily feel. I know it's normal for your knee cap to clunk around but this is my actual tibia moving forward.
 
I have no idea about the tibia thing, did you ask your surgeon? Or did you not notice it until after your appointment? Your flexion is great, much better than even my good knee/first TKR. Hopefully someone else can answer your question.
 
@Susie-Q, this is something that I just noticed while sitting at my desk working. I naturally pull my feet back under my chair that way while I work and because my ROM has increased so much it's easy for me to do it with my new knee, and I did it without even thinking about it. It doesn't hurt when it happens, but it's very noticeable and it just feels clunky the same way my knee cap does when it moves around. Before I freak out and call my surgeon, I thought I'd check in with the experts. :)
 
Thank you for the tag, @Susie-Q. We do prefer to have our experienced staff respond to medical questions like the one @SZone has posed so I'm glad you let us know about the concern.

@SZone ... what you're experiencing with that odd feeling when you curl your leg back under your chair is perfectly normal. You are just slightly over 2 months out from your surgery and your body is still adjusting to the new implant. This adjustment involves all the soft tissues surrounding your new knee. They have to "learn" how it feels when you make motions with your knee joint. Eventually that movement will be signaled to your brain as "normal" and you won't even notice it. The key factor is that you are not experiencing any pain when making the movement. That just means your parts are getting to know each other better. It's great that you are able to do this with your new knee so soon!
 
@Susie-Q, thank you for the bump!

@Jamie, thank you for your response! There are so many new aches, pains and clunks that come with this surgery that it’s hard to know what is normal and what to be concerned about. This site is a lifesaver! I think I’m going to try to be more aware of what my foot/leg is doing while I’m focusing on work and just not put it in that position. At least not until I’ve healed a bit more and regained more muscle tone. I think it just puts too much pressure on my tibia at that angle and forces it forward.

In my quest to find a good way to continue working on my ROM, I learned that if I kneel on the couch, facing the arm, and lean over the arm with my upper body, I can get a really good controlled stretch, slowly lowering my butt towards my heels until I feel resistance and then holding for a bit. I figure I may as well go for as much ROM as I can while I am in these early weeks. FYI, I can touch my heel to my butt with my non surgery leg and could do the same with my surgery leg prior to surgery even though both are/ were 100% bone on bone.
 
I figure I may as well go for as much ROM as I can while I am in these early weeks.
There is no window of opportunity to regain ROM, you regain it as you heal and as your swelling goes down. Many of us have had increased ROM well into our second year post op.
 

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