1. pain level during the day only if I lie down, then it burns at base of knee where the scar ends 2-3. Night time is ok till around midnight then stiff and a 5
You said "pain level during the day" but gave no number - so what is the pain level during the day?
Midnight you get pain at 5 with stiffness - this is connected with your pain meds - or lack of them!
You get a burning pain in the scar 2-3 - I think you should discuss this with your GP as it sounds like neuropathy for which you need something like gabapentin
2. off all pain meds except 2 665mg panadol osteo at bedtime.
Why are you off all pain meds when you are only 6 weeks out? Six weeks is the time when you need them most of all! And Panadol-osteo is only paracetamol which is not effective enough for you right now. I suggest you also discuss with your GP, having some Tramadol for a few weeks. It will make all the difference.
3. knee swelling moderate except after exercise when it is a little more
I see - and you included this swelling in your pain score did you?
4. ROM when sitting is 115 and 5 left knee total, right knee partial 120 and 0
That's actually very good for only 6 weeks out. Very good!
5. ice only once a day, occasionally twice for 40 minutes
Given the amount of swelling you have you should ice for at least 40-60mins and more than 4 times a day.
6. elevate around 2 hours a day
And elevate when you ice.
7. light housework and cooking and a little gardening sitting on a stool. I can walk around the supermarket for 30 - 40 minutes easily
Did you read the recovery articles Celle left you in post #2? Amongst them was this one
Activity progression for TKRs in which it clearly states
Weeks 6 and onward
Start taking car trips to the shops but keep them short and sweet at the start, no longer than 15-20 minutes
Take at least one 5 minute rest while you are out.
Activity: a
very little ironing, washing, meal prep but get someone else to clear up after. Wash up but someone else clears the table, brings you the dirty dishes, dries and puts them away after,
NOT you!!
I suggest you go back and read all the articles.
exercise at home -
do these only once a day and none at all at the weekends
heel slides a day x10 per day -
this is a very bad way to do heel slides. Read this Heel slides and how to do them properly.
knee clenches held for 2 seconds 10 reps -
never heard of these but you don't need them anyway!
leg lifts with quad clenched x10 -
here again, once you can do leg lifts you don't need to do them any more!
some stretching -
what stretches?
recumbent bike 5 minutes (can do full rotation easily)
- that's good!
I go to physio twice a week for 30 minutes and I am happy for him to deeply massage my knee front and side) and quads -
is that all you do? If not, what else do you do?
In summary, I'd say that
a) you need better pain meds
b) you need to get some gabapentin
c) you should stop all exercises principally because you don't need to do them any more - your ROM is already excellent
d) if you continue to do the exercises, you will risk increasing pain and swelling and a regressing ROM