TKR Tykey's second knee replacement

@Tykey WISHING you a VERY HAPPY 1 year knee anniversary :yes!: :cheers: Hoping you are now able to achieve all your dreams xx :happydance:
 
Thankyou Sara, I had totally forgotten! I shall bake a cake
I rarely think about my new knee anymore, it's almost identical to the other 11 year old knee. It's a bit of a bother when I'm up a ladder, steep steps etc and I need to decide which leg to lead with. When I had an original (but worn) knee I always had a safe option to go to. So I sometimes dither about as I try each one in turn. Dithering makes me look my age
The stretching and silly walk have been highly successful in getting rid of the charley horses () at the back and tight band at the front of the knee.
So I've proved that it really is a 12 month journey, no amount of worry and analysis makes one jot of difference, does it.

I think I should blow out the one candle on the cake, and have my wish.
I wish "all physiotherapists should go back to school and learn that there is no 6 week target"

Thanks again
 
@Tykey
Can you tell me more about how to silly walk please? I read about how your two tendons (I’m assuming these 2 tendons are behind the knee?) used to spasm. I had bilateral TKR on July 6th. The left knee is doing really well. The right knee is plagued by behind the knee pain that sometimes radiates down to my calf, shin, and foot, which my therapist says is due to a super tight right hamstring. He’s given me stretches and exercises to do. They are helping some, but I’m still having the pain.

I was at the beach this weekend and walked for a little bit on the firm wet sand. I noticed that other people’s footprints had a lighter heal impression and a deeper pad with toes impression than my footprints did. My footprints were light throughout my whole foot. When I showed my husband the difference, he said it was because those folks were pushing off with their toes and I was not. I’ve been really careful to walk heel/toe but I’m not pushing off with my toes apparently. Then I remembered your silly walk. So I stepped heel/toe but then pressed down with my toes and kicked my foot back from the knee. When I did this, my footprint looked like everyone else’s. Is that what you are talking about when you say you kick your foot back? I am desperate to get the behind the knee hamstring pain to go away!!!!
 
Hi Ciz. Yes, I found that the big tendons behind the knee went into painful cramps when I reached the limit of my ROM, plus the regular tight band in front just below the kneecap. Seeing as it was painful, I just avoided bending too much. My wife pointed out I was walking a bit stiff legged, which I didn't realise. I was just planting my foot flat on the floor, and to keep an even keel (ie not looking drunk) I was doing the same with the other foot. I was walking in a shuffle, like the geisha ladies on platform shoes.
An earlier issue with shin splints was caused by not putting my heel on the floor first, so I already realised how important gait was.
I took the dogs for a walk in a remote place, and made sure I put my heel down first and rolled forward so all my weight went onto the big toe (that's why it's big). That makes the knee bend much more, if it doesn't, you fall over. Very quickly, my knee loosened up, but I wasn't reaching enough bend to stretch the tendons and make them hurt. So I then did the silly walk, where I made sure I kicked my heels out and up at of each step at the back, ie trying to kick my own backside. Of course I had to start gently, only kicking up until it hurt a bit. Very soon, after about 100 yards, the knee became much looser, I could kick harder, and the pain virtually disappeared.
After a long rest, it came back a bit, but after a week I never felt it any more.
I suspect the tendons and other bits just don't get any work, so they just shorten up. Evolution has developed how we should walk, so we have to try to walk how nature intended.
I wouldn't suggest this in any way whilst we are still healing, I was virtually a year out, so everything was healed and was asking for training.

It's odd that we need physios at this end of the process, but we actually only see them at the start where they are often less use than a chocolate fireguard.

Good luck, I hope it works for you as well.
 
You are very welcome, but please be cautious because your knees are much newer than mine. Firstly concentrate on walking smoothly, ie heel down first, then rolling onto your toes.
 
I will. Believe me when I tell you there is no earthly way I could even kick my leg back and up enough to hit my own butt! But even with a tiny kick, I can feel a difference because it forces me to plant my heel and then push off from my toes. The push off part was missing before.
 
Hi folks, just thought I'd pop in for an update, and to wish everyone well through the current crisis, and into Xmas.
Now about 15 months with my newest knee, and it's still going pretty well. The one thing I'm still working on is a bit of swelling and stiffness on the front, below the knee. I realise it's due to again not walking smoothly with heeling and toeing. It's a bit of a difficult habit to break. The swelling/stiffness/poor gait feed off each other.
But I've got a compression sleeve which makes it more comfy, and hence I walk better. It's coming right!!
I try not to forget I'm 72, so I can excuse my body from not acting like it did when I was a teenager.
It's a zillion times better than it was 15 months ago.
So, to all my old friends, take care, the end of the trouble is in sight. And to all the new people on here, have faith, listen to the advice from the experienced heads who do such a great great job.

Toodle pip!!!
 
Thanks for the update @Tykey . Stay safe and well and enjoy your Christmas!
 
Just to wish you a very Happy Birthday today :wave: Glad to read all is well with your new knee, and that you are keeping an eye on the swelling, I'm sure if you rest it often and occasionally ice it. You'll be right as rain in no time.
 
Hi folks

It's now 18 months since my second tkr, and I thought I'd pop in to make sure you are all OK.
Things are great here, but I thought it worth mentioning one particular thing, the ubiquitous tight band across and just below the knee. It keeps coming and going, but I never notice, because I naturally start walking differently . My wife normally just gives me a flea in my ear, because she notes I've started walking stiff legged (again).
So I just correct my gait (again) making sure I'm bending my knee more each step, both when I'm stepping forward and when I pick up my foot at the back. Within a day or two, the tight band is hardly noticeable.
It seems to me that if I walk with a stiff leg (remember Chester in Gunsmoke ) the ligaments and stuff in front take it easy and shorten. So if you have this, just try stretching them.
It seems many long term issues are caused by us not relearning how to walk properly again. Shin splints, cramps (crazy horses) at the back, tight bands are 3 which come to mind.
It's a shame physiotherapists get involved straight after the op (when they do more damage than good) but when we need them later on, they are nowhere to be seen.
 
I forgot to mention that I inadvertently learned a new skill a couple of days ago ie imitating an earthquake!
We have a beautiful wooded park near us, called Clumber. I was walking with the dogs, my thoughts were away with the fairies!!
My foot (with the newest knee) tripped on a root and I went forward in majestic fashion, falling like lumberjack had been involved. I landed on my face, arms outstretched (which were holding the dogs'leashes)
The remarkable thing is that my automatic reaction was to keep my legs straight so as not to land on my knees!
Have you noticed that whenever you do something embarrassing, your first reaction is to look around to check if anyone has seen you make a fool of yourself?
There nearly always is!,
and there was!
The only damage which was done was to my pride. The two kind young people who witnessed the thing jumped off their bikes to come and make sure I was OK. I'm sure they both thought "look at that poor white haired (I'm silvery haired!!) old man"

Sturdy things these knees!
 
@Tykey Glad that new knee is doing well! But please - no falling! Lucky you had hold of the dogs' leads.
 
@Jaycey. I'm doing better than the first knee recovery. That time, after 3 or 4 weeks, still on crutches, I took the dogs out in the snow!! Yes, the inevitable happened!! But I twisted in mid air and landed on my back, with the poorly knee stuck up vertically. Fortunately, nobody saw that one:yahoo:
I'm not safe to be let out on my own!:praying:
 
Oh no, Tykey! Thank God you are OK. I fall every couple of months and somehow manage to always twist and land on my hip and side. That's how I cracked my ribs in September and messed my shoulder up in 2012. At least my knees were OK!
 
That's how I cracked my ribs in September
You've reminded me that I also fell off a low(ish) cliff whilst trying to get my dog down safely, and badly hurt my ribs. I still went to yoga that evening and just struggled through with lots of oohs and aahs. The lady who held the session also did hand's-on healing. So she put her hand on my ribs and told me to feel the energy entering. I really did feel my ribs tingling! Then she took her hands away, having told me to say "pain, go away!". Which I did, and the pain went, never to return.
I'm the biggest cynic you will ever meet, I was only doing it to humour her, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating (an old British saying). I was gobsmacked to say the least.
I wonder why I never took my knee to see her?
I've run out of knees to test her out a bit more. Maybe someone else should give it a go?
 
WOW! That is amazing. I've read about the hands-on healing, but you are the first person that I know that had it done to them personally. We need lots more of them around to heal these old arthritis bodies!
 

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