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TKR Tough Going <

My knee is still stiff but it has slowly gotten better. You're doing really great!!
 
Aquatic therapy sounds soothing. My rehab facility doesn't offer it, and I haven't the energy to deal with the YMCA.
 
The therapist group that I went to has a location near to where I work and I was thinking about getting my doctor to write me a script for it.:swim:
 
I can't stop sleeping! I keep reading about my fellow Bonesmarties who are sleep deprived and I have the opposite problem. I have never been this fatigued in my life, even when I had newborn breastfed babies! I have taken three naps today and I sleep from about midnight until 6am most mornings.
When I wake up, I feel like my leg was a speed bump for a double decker bus!
I find my pain meds, turn on the TV and listen to distract me from my pain until my meds kick in.
Hubs brings me coffee and toast around 7. I drink two huge cups of caffienated coffee and lie back down around 8 and sleep till 11! I worked on a painting Ive been wanting ti finish and by 3pm I'm ready for another nap. I sleep till 4. I get up and clean up the kitchen and give myself a freshening up. I lie back down around 6 and sleep till 7.
What in the world?
 
I napped constantly and I'm not a napper, haven't napped since. I'm a little jealous. :unsure:
 
@MimiMimi Love your speed bump analogy - I laughed out loud! That is quite descriptive. I likened my feeling to a fallen tree and a reinforced concrete pillar, but your expression is my new gold standard:rotfl:

I also had a number of days a few weeks ago when I was sleeping a lot. I would sit on the sofa to elevate and ice, and suddenly 2 hours had disappeared. I am not taking pain meds in the daytime, so it's not the drugged sleep I had my first few weeks - I think it's just my body finally getting over all the trauma, medication and pain. Enjoy your naps!
 
All that sleep is good for you. It must be what your body needs.
 
I think I may have a theory about why my knee is do stiff and my ROM is poor. In addition to recovery, think I have enthesitis in my quad entheses and patellar enthesitis. I am having a nasty flare of it all over my body. I need my Humira or something, but it was stopped for my surgery, and I see a new Rheumatologist Dec 2. ( insurance issues). I am going to pose this theory to my OS when he presses for MUA. If it is enthesitis, which I strongly suspect it is, a MUA would be terrible for my recovery.
 
MimiMimi,
I suspect you are right about enthesitis. I assume this has happened to you before?
I agree, a MUA would be premature, and make things worse. There is no rush, when your inflammation settles down your ROM should increase.
 
I'm four months out and I'm doing pretty well, y'all! I still don't have great range of motion, but since I quit PT I'm doing 100% better. I can walk without a cane and my pain is so much better. Swelling is negligible. I did a webinar with Creaky Joints tonight, as a patient, and I told the other participants how much I wish I'd known about Bonesmart.org before my surgery, and how much it helped me. I want to extend my deepest appreciation to the moderators and my buddies on here who encouraged me along. It was such a difficult experience, but I made it, and I want to thank you for your support in my recovery.
 
So good to hear you are doing well! Hopefully it will only get better.
 
It's very tough never thought it would be . Wishing you the best and a great recovery !!


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Welcome back!!! That is a great report---and you have helped quite a few folks who are in the middle of the depths of recovery---you have shown them what awaits them!
 
I know this site promotes minimal to no PT but I believe it is beneficial for many reasons. First let me say PT that is aggressive and not in the patients best interest or control is not good and should not be tolerated. Although my recovery has been slow for whatever reason and now includes the use of Dynasplints my PT has been a huge source of support and encouragement. When at PT if my body mechanics are not appropriate I am reminded of it and reinforcement is provided. My gait is not very good as I tend to avoid bending my knee when walking. I believe this was a bad habit from before surgery and now the tightness I get in my knee also makes me avoid bending it. I cannot tell you how often I am doing an exercise and note when I look in the mirror that I am leaning forward when needing to be totally upright ect. I have also developed numbness in my knee lateral top portion which was determined to be sciatic in nature. My PT has shown me stretching exercises that have greatly helped with this issue. Let me say I do a lot of my own therapy at home also so those who do this and have great results I get it and totally support your choice but I do believe it is an individual decision. This site is the best resource I have found and it has helped me in more ways than I ever could have imagined.
 
Bullet said:
I know this site promotes minimal to no PT but I believe it is beneficial for many reasons.
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I think PT can be effective if it is done correctly---my PT's were very gentle, and, at times, had to reign me in as I was trying to work too hard, too soon. Too often, though we read of forum members who have PT's who go by the "No pain, no gain" philosophy, which is counter productive to moving forward in recovery.

My PT's, like yours, were also very supportive and guided me through some rough times---I also had issues with IT Bands in stereo! They helped show my all of the stretches and the ice massage to deal with it.

I did go to PT for four months---I needed certain regimens and exercises to get me back on the baseball diamond calling balls and strikes, and I also had some gait issues that needed to be addressed, as well.
Bullet said:
When at PT if my body mechanics are not appropriate I am reminded of it and reinforcement is provided. My gait is not very good as I tend to avoid bending my knee when walking.
Click to expand...
This was pretty much me, as well.

I also enjoyed being around the PT's and the other joint replacement patients---it was sort of like a team approach and I enjoyed being around other people who were slowly working toward a goal---we could share our stories and commiserate, as well.

PT was for me a social event, as well. It got me out of the house and allowed me to socialize.
 
For those of you, like me, who had never heard this term before, this is what it means: "Enthesitis is inflammation of the entheses, the sites where tendons or ligaments insert into the bone. It is also called enthesopathy, or any pathologic condition involving the entheses".

It's a deeply scientific term for it though and simply confirms what I've often said which is that inflammation doesn't confine itself to a particular ligament or muscle, it very much likes to share itself around! Thus you get pains/inflammation in the area of whatever structure is mentioned. It's rather like saying there's an egg cupful of water in that bucket that's coloured with blue dye! Get the picture?
 
@MimiMimi it is great to see you on the site and to hear your positive news! I would not have believed that full recovery could take so many months, but it is true, you are proof! Hope you continue to make progress and feel better.
 
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