Bengalady,
Welcome to BoneSmart, glad you found us!
Sorry to hear you are having a rough start, what you knee needs is time to heal. 95 degrees at one month is great! When your swelling and inflammation go down, your ROM will be there, but first you have to let your knee heal.
You are still very early in this yearlong+ recovery, what your knee needs now is, Rest, Ice, Elevation, and Medication on schedule as prescribed.
My knee feels like I have a thousand rubber bands wrapped around it. Stiff and swollen always.
It is inflammation and swelling.
"Tight band" feeling across the front of my knee
How can I bend my knee If it's swollen by an inch, and painful to bend?
Pretty much you can't bend your knee, until the inflammation and swelling go down. All the pushing and shoving for ROM is only resulting in more inflammation and swelling, blocking your ROM, and possibly setting your progress back.
Therapist says I have to push past the pain
Saying no to therapy - am I allowed to?
TKR: Evidence shows that less really is more when it comes to exercising!
TKR: work “smarter” and not “harder”
Please, tell me it gets better.....or is there something else I can do?
YES! There is something else you can do. I am going to give you the post op reading, and as I said earlier.
Rest, Ice, Elevate, and Medicate on schedule as prescribed.
First is the reading - everybody gets a free copy of the recovery reading!
Here are the BoneSmart mantras ....
-
rest,
elevate,
ice and
take your pain meds by the clock as prescribed
- if it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physiotherapist - to do it to you
- if your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again
- if you won't die if it's not done, don't do it
- never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can go to sleep!
- be active as much as you need to be but not more than is necessary, meaning so much that you end up being in pain, exhausted or desperate to sit down or lay down!
Next is a
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) thread.
And here are some very crucial articles
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Activity progression for TKRs
Heel slides and how to do them
Extension: how to estimate it and ways to improve it
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Healing: how long does it take?
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds
Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?