@kayow11 - I Have now merged both your recovyr threads together, as you requested.
Before my last surgery, Josephine wrote me a very lengthy and detailed message regarding all the issues
I wrote about in my first thread. Overall, her recommendation was for me to not do PT at all. I was doing too much at home too. Thanks for your input Josephine
I suggest you take Josephine's advice and also apply it to your newest TKR.
As most of you know that are Americans, it is highly recommended to do regular PT 2X week at the clinic, and 2X a day at home. They always preach (and truly believe) that scar tissue is a big issue if one doesn't stretch and exercise regularly.
While I agree that many Americans are advised to do that, so are people in other countries. It's not just a US thing, but it does depend on where your surgeon did his/her training. I have heard several different recovery philosophies in just my own small country.
My own surgeon (working in NZ, but trained in Australia) doesn't allow any PT at all for the first month after a TKR. He says the knee needs that time, to start on its journey of healing, before it is stressed with exercise. His patients all do well, and he hasn't had to do an MUA to help with ROM for the past 4 years.
Since I don't believe that American knees are constructed any differently from knees in the rest of the world, I think that all the emphasis on the need for lots of exercise is misplaced.
My big issue is swelling! And it doesn't seem like it's going to leave even with all this elevate and icing. It is going to take it's sweet time going down. I am 3 months out from the first one and still only have about 95 degrees and is still swollen some.
It's perfectly normal for swelling to continue for as long as this. It's not going to go down in just a couple of weeks.
Even at 9 months post-op, my knees would still swell if I did too much for them. It's a warning sign to ease off some activity that the knees don't like.
I actually think that 65° at Day 7 is rather terrible. Everyone else in class was doing 90 and better. My other knee was even better at that point of two days postop.
How much should I rest elevate and ice? Ice for 45 minutes four times a day or even more ? I like to have specifics or at least some good guidelines to start with. I just think I am one that swells excessively. No matter what I do.
Since most surgeons don't expect 90 degrees until around 6 weeks, I think you are setting your expectations too high, which could pave the way for disappointment and frustration.
Your knee will progress on its own schedule, not on anyone else's but if you exercise it too much, you are likely to increase the amount of swelling and decrease its ROM. That was the heart of the advice that Josephine gave you.
Pretty much every doctor in the US thinks it is the only way to success. Another I really appreciated was the info Fire Wolf sent on the specifics of exercises, and mostly the icing, rest and elevation with % of time doing this. I like details like this, so thank you. It will help me gauge time spent doing things.
I highly suspect that , whatever the surgeons expect, many of their patients have found out that exercising so much is not the best way to proceed with their new knees.
Fire wolf has told you what worked for her knee. That's fine, but as long as you spend most of your time resting, icing and elevating for the first month, you will not go far wrong.
Don't forget the advice in this article:
Activity progression for TKRs
Did many of you ice and/or elevate during sleeping also?
It's a good idea to do that.
As long as you have some material between your skin and the icing medium, you can ice all night long, without any ill-effects.
When it comes down to it, how much exercising you do is your choice. Just bear in mind that you were exercising your first TKR too much, so don't make the same mistake again.
For what it's worth, I've had three knee replacements (a PKR, a Revision to TKR, and a TKR of the other knee).
I did minimal PT for the first two replacements and none at all for the last one. I just let the activities of daily living be my exercise.
Both my knees are strong and reliable. I can do everything I want to with them. Apart from an occasional, mild niggle, they give me no pain, and I seldom think of them.
Both knees straighten fully and bend to over 125 degrees.
United States
