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PKR tarajenni's PKR Recovery

So thrilled to get outside and be able to ride my bike today. 5 weeks post op and I rode 20 miles!! It was on a former railroad turned greenway so very flat and I took it easy. Currently icing and elevating.

I noticed today with each stroke the left knee doing the normal grinding and crunching but the right knee was smooth and quiet. Surgery next month to fix the left one.
 
@tarajenni, "The needling is like acupuncture but they put the needles deeper into the affected muscle instead of just into the skin. She said it increases blood flow into the muscle." I'm surprised that needles are used so soon after surgery, I would be worried about infection. Also, who took that great picture of your knee during surgery?
 
@tarajenni that is so awesome you were able to do that much. Were you able to do that leading up to your surgery?

I am looking forward to doing some hiking on a flat state park trail near us.
 
@bowhunter8
A year before surgery I was riding 25 miles, 3 nights a week. On weekends I would ride longer. Hoping to get back to that. I did a lot of hiking before surgery as well. We have so many great trails nearby. Looking forward to that as well.
 
I’m 5.5 weeks post op. It’s 3:45am. Some of the worst pain I’ve had since that first week. Started when I started settling down last night while watching TV. Tried icing and TENS unit. Finally got the hydrocodone back out. It helped me get to sleep for a few hours but pain is back. To describe it...just an overall constant ache. I can’t really pinpoint an area. And it almost felt like my distal quads would spasm last night.

I biked yesterday but it was super flat, very slow and only for 30 minutes. No pain while riding or just after.

Anyone have anything similar?
 
@tarajenni, the muscle spasms and deep ache you described are the exact same issues I had at night when I was trying to fall asleep. Before settling down, everything would feel fine. Just as I could tell I was relaxing enough to maybe fall asleep, my upper thigh (quads) would suddenly contract, hard! Then they would release, only to do it again, over and over. Of course, this then aggravated my knee, which then would really start to ache, and on and on. This went on for several weeks (seemed like forever). Because I was trying to stay away from my pain meds (other than Tylenol), the only way to get relief was to get up and walk a bit. Relief was brief, cause as soon as I would lie down again, it would start all over. If I sat up and watched tv or looked over BS, no problem. Of course, doing this every night didn’t sit well with Beautiful, so I ended up spending most of those weeks in our spare bedroom. When it got real bad, I’d have to take a Tramadol, but did try to avoid doing so.

I happened to ask my doc about that, he said it’s due to the nerves reawakening. We just notice it more and fee the effects more as we are falling asleep. He also mentioned that the body does a LOT of healing when we sleep. No different than kids do a lot of growing while sleeping. Makes sense I guess.
 
@NavyGunns I did the same as you for relief. I walked laps around kitchen and LR. Then as soon as I laid back down, it would start again. I would also get sharp stinging pains too which sounds like the nerves reawakening as you said. I decided to stay home from work to try and rest. Hope this isn’t a nightly thing for a while.
 
Maybe you should wait a bit longer before riding 20 miles on your bike again since you had the some of the worst pain since the first week, last night. And you did that in 30 minutes? That’s a lot!

You are having a very good recovery. Much better than mine is, even now at 18 months, and I had a Patellofemoral also.

However, your great recovery can change quickly by doing things sooner than your knee is ready for.

Since riding went so well at the time, you know it’s in your future. Take care of your knee now and let it heal, so riding stays in your future. You have lots of time to ride later, recovery is temporary.
 
Did you mean a bicycle or a motorcycle?

I’m amazed you could go 20 miles on a bicycle.
 
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@tarajenni, I had the nightly aches and muscle spasms from roughly week 3/4 through about week 6 or 7? If you read my recovery thread you might get a better idea. It’s a bit of a fog for me now. I know I posted about my frustrations with it quite a bit.
 
@Jockette That 20 mile ride was last weekend and it took 2 hours. Yesterday I only rode 5 miles. I agree I’ve likely overdone it and need to take it easy.
 
tarajenni said:
5 weeks post op and I rode 20 miles!! It was on a former railroad turned greenway so very flat and I took it easy.
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We have those here, too. They are called Rails to Trails and I've been a member of the orgination for several years. They are very easy to ride on, but...
tarajenni said:
Some of the worst pain I’ve had since that first week.
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This is totally related to your bike riding. Your knee is way too early to stress it like this. Your knee is only a little over 1/10 of the way of being healed. You have traumatized those poor soft tissues that are trying so hard to heal. I didn't try riding after my tkr for 3 months and then I started it with less than a mile and the waited to see how my knee reacted. It was sore, but not too bad. The next week I tried the mile. I was OK. Your knee needs to always be in control. You do too much too soon and you set your recovery back. Slow and easy is the way to go.
tarajenni said:
I biked yesterday but it was super flat, very slow and only for 30 minutes. No pain while riding or just after.
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Pain afterwards is your knee telling you it's not ready for that. You need to give it a couple of weeks with just normal daily activities to let it recover.
 
@tarajenni sorry you are feeling this way right now. It is encouraging that you are able to do what you are able to this close out but it does sound like it may be a bit much. I have been watching your thread because you are young and just a few weeks ahead of me. I would have the same tendency to do too much so if you don’t mind, I am going to try and learn from your experience.

Ice, elevate and rest and I hope you don’t experience the same levels of pain tonight.
 
tarajenni said:
@Jockette That 20 mile ride was last weekend and it took 2 hours. Yesterday I only rode 5 miles. I agree I’ve likely overdone it and need to take it easy.
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I did go back and reread your posts and checked the dates and realized it was 2 different times you were talking about, before you responded. I’m still amazed you could ride for 20 miles or for 2 hours! It indicates good things to come!

I wish mine had gone as well as yours. It never occurred to me that it wouldn’t.
 
Thanks everyone. I was so anxious to get back out there and it felt ok at the time but I now realize it was too much. I’m going to take it easy from now on. Lesson learned.
 
@tarajenni, even though you might have over done it a bit, no long term issues should arise. Occasional pushing the limits is good, in my opinion, as it helps you gauge your level of improvement and what the new limits are. Just as long as you back off a bit to recover before pushing it again.
 
@bowhunter8 Thanks for checking in. It’s been a rough week. I read through @NavyGunns recovery thread and it sounds very similar. I wake up multiple times with just a deep ache. The only thing that seems to help is walking around. So lots of laps in the house in the middle of the night.

I’ve been coming home from work and doing nothing to rest it. I’m on my feet a lot at work and Fitbit says I walk around 3 miles each day. I’ve got my post op (and pre op for other knee) appointment today so I’ll see what he says.

Last night was the first night I got 3 hours straight of sleep. Luckily I was able to get back to sleep pretty easily for another 3.
 
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