I need a little encouragement. I have my OS appt. this Thursday the 28th & I am quite sure he will want to schedule a MUA. I was able to put him off at my last visit but now I am at almost 11 weeks post-op & I think he will insist on it.
My ROM is 107 now. I have PT tomorrow & we will see if it has changed since last week.
Your ROM is 107 at 11 weeks. You are making steady progress. Very few surgeons do an MUA once the ROM is over 90. Why do you think your surgeon will "insist"? In any case, it's your knee, not his, and he can't do anything without your consent. What's he going to do? Come to your house and drag you into hospital? I don't think so!
I very much doubt that you will need an MUA at all.
Just continue to let your knee progress at its own pace. Remember that you can continue to increase ROM for a year or even more after surgery.
But, I wonder if this tightness is due to adhesions?
In spite of all the hype about them, adhesions are actually very rare. The tightness above your knee is normal at 11 weeks and is probably due to this:
"Tight band" feeling across the front of my knee
The tightness I have is only on the top of the leg & was worsened after a PT worked aggressively on my knee to try & feel/move the knee-cap. She did some big time pressing & massaging; it did not cause me great pain, just discomfort. She even checked out my non-operative knee & said that that kneecap is also very tight. I am so confused but this tightness is so much worse since she worked on it one week ago. What do you think guys & gals??
I think you must tell your PT to stop messing your knees about. It's totally unnecessary to do all that manipulating. The kneecaps will loosen up by themselves, if left alone.
As you found out, that manipulation made things worse, not better, so don't allow it any more.
Not sure PolarBear60 if there is some magical window of time that a MUA must be done in or not. My goal is to buy another few weeks.
No. There isn't a magical window of time - for having an MUA or for getting increased ROM.
I think your goal should be to avoid having an MUA at all. I'm pretty sure you don't need one.
Time, and patience will give you the ROM you want.
Just so that you can see an example of how one Bonesmartie's ROM made slow, but continued, progress for over a year, here is what
@Campervan (thank you, Margaret) posted about her first TKR - she didn't have, and didn't need, an MUA:
"I had a slow recovery. Here's my flex measurements at various points:
92 - 8 weeks post op
105 - 10 weeks
107 - 5 months
110 - 6 months
112 - 7 months
116 - 9 months
119 - 11 months
118 - 1 yr
120 - 1yr 2 months
125 - 1 yr 8 months"
United States
