Yes, the knee can be noisy early on but should fade (pun intended) over time. I had the ability to make those weird knee movements early on but the muscles and tendons are tighter now.
TKR TKR on 8/8/22
- Thread starter R2R
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shr
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shr
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The aches come and go for me and sometimes I find a new one.
I just don’t want to be cut back open because it’s loose after I have finally gotten to this point in the recovery. When I lifted my leg and moved it side to side and it felt loose and sloppy and could hear it happening I just wanted to cry
Montecresto
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I followed up with the PA and it is normal for it to feel this way she said so I’m just gonna roll with it.
I’m at 11 weeks and my biggest complaint to this point is the stiffness and tightness I deal with when I go to walk. Often times it not as bad as others sometimes minimal other times very uncomfortable
I’m at 11 weeks and my biggest complaint to this point is the stiffness and tightness I deal with when I go to walk. Often times it not as bad as others sometimes minimal other times very uncomfortable
How far and fast do you walk? Believe it or not, you may be overdoing it in your walks. Try cutting back distance, speed, or frequency of your walks until you can do them comfortably and then ramp up slowly. Speed was the very last thing that I tackled after I found a comfortable daily distance and was certain that my heel to toe form was solid. It all took several months and at more than 1 year, my speed is way better than pre-surgery.
Check out this snippet from the Bonesmart Library: "Your body spends a lot of energy healing itself. You can help it along by taking enough time to rest. If you push yourself too hard without resting, your recovery will take much longer. Resting also gives the body the ability to concentrate more on healing from your surgery!"
Also consider that pain may result from activities done a day or 2 ago. So when you're trying to figure out if you've done too much, look back at today, yesterday and the day before.
Everything I’ve read says if you are dealing with stiffness it’s when you wake up and first start moving then it subsides. Well with me I wake up and it works good no tightness or stiffness until I start walking after about a couple of minutes then I deal with it the entire day
I had this surgery to eliminate the pain. I had good great range of motion and stability 3 months post op and I am satisfied with the replacement from a stability standpoint but not from a pain standpoint (the whole reason why I did this). In the evening I still need pain meds to get any kind of relief to sleep
shr
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Sorry to hear that you're still in this much pain and praying that it will subside soon. At over 3 months post TKR I'm still have some pain but fortunately it's manageable with movement, icing and elevation so no medication for it. My brother and I joke that if we awoke without pain we'd think we were dead.
Don't give up hope, @R2R! You are still early days in this year-long recovery and it's not uncommon to have stiffness and some pain at 3 months post-op.
Keep icing and elevating, and stay ahead of the pain by taking your meds on a regular schedule. Just be sure you aren't pushing the knee too hard, which can cause more discomfort.
The fact your stability and ROM are good this soon is great news. The stiffness and pain will also subside. You just need more time.
Keep icing and elevating, and stay ahead of the pain by taking your meds on a regular schedule. Just be sure you aren't pushing the knee too hard, which can cause more discomfort.
The fact your stability and ROM are good this soon is great news. The stiffness and pain will also subside. You just need more time.
That means it swells and causes that stiffness. It is to be expected at your short time out from surgery. I complained about tightness for months. It was the last thing to go for me. Even if you don't see a lot of swelling outside, but inside your knee still has it, too. It's not much room in there so any amount of fluid will make it harder to move because that fluid is in the way.
My tightness/stiffness i don’t feel is coming from inside the knee itself as much as it is from the skin or just beneath the skin. I’m now at 14 weeks and at times it doesn’t bother me to walk and feels comfortable but often times for no rhyme or reason it feels so uncomfortable to bend (feels as though stuff is ripping in there with every bend to take a step to the point I want to walk without bending it.
Unfortunately, what you are describing is pretty much normal. Have you noticed your increased pain and swelling are coming from increased activities? I bet they are. Increase your resting, icing, and elevating, and your knee should feel better.
I don’t really do much just some walking
i don’t really do much other then walking and that’s all it takes for it to make this uncomfortable feeling. I’d almost rather deal with the arthritic pain I had before the surgery then this uncomfortableness. So really whether I do a lot or do little it feels this way
Have you told your OS about this? Is it swelling? Are you icing and elevating? I found these two things really helped my pain and swelling. There is nothing wrong with you doing these the whole time you are sitting or laying down until the pain goes down. I found my swelling and pain decreased when I iced and elevated a lot. It's worth a try for you to see if it helps.
Yes I have in fact I had my 12 week follow up yesterday and told him how I’m feeling and he just said I’m still in the early stage of recovery that I could try rubbing cocoa butter on the knee to desensitize it but that doesn’t help. At this point I regret having the surgery done
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Hi, I find the change in the weather really making my whole leg ache. I don't really have pain in my knee, the swelling is down but not gone. That area that is numb feels heavy at times. I have been massaging my incisional line and around my knee with cetaphil but any body lotion is fine once you are healed. It has made a difference, but you really have to do it at least twice a day, every day. You won't feel instant relief but if you keep it up you will. Yesterday with the cold weather I tried my heating pad under my knee and that was helpful to me. I found when I am not moving, I start to get knee stiffness. I have an inexpensive stationary bike that really helps. Are you taking any Tylenol or ibuprofen? Good luck to you!
