what about alpine skiing?

[skigirl]

I am kind of lazy sometimes. For the first two weeks---I did an occasional heel slide or two whenever I thought about it, but not much else.!! I have a rom of 150---so I will tell you that it is better to rest and get the swelling down for the first two weeks. By week three, you will be able to do those exercises without much trouble.

I went to pt twice a week from the second week, he did gentle heel slides and I did leg lifts--no much else and really, I never did anything outside of pt.

 

[idnar]

Wow - it could take a year to get ROM!? Okay, I get the picture. I'm going to post your response, referee, next to my bed to remind myself to not get too anxious. This book had me thinking that I was in great trouble if I didn't get significant ROM in the first 2 weeks (I may be exaggerating - but it was FAST).

Thank you also for your response, sleenie. There does seem to be a general concensus to get the TKR earlier rather than later. And I do remember last summer, after a very painful hike that I just didn't do much hiking at all for the rest of the summer. Pain is a great dissuader of doing the things you love!

 

[Celle]

Wow - it could take a year to get ROM!? Okay, I get the picture. I'm going to post your response, referee, next to my bed to remind myself to not get too anxious. This book had me thinking that I was in great trouble if I didn't get significant ROM in the first 2 weeks (I may be exaggerating - but it was FAST).

I'm another one who did very little exercise in the first few weeks after TKR. In fact, I had no physiotherapy for 4 weeks, but just did gentle bending and stretching. My ROM continued to increase for a year or more. Now I have about 125 degrees, which would be more if i didn't have fat legs.

I don't see how anyone can expect to bend their knee fully in the first 2 weeks - it's still swollen and that swelling stops it bending. Think of your knee as being like a hosepipe full of water. It won't bend easily,but an empty hosepipe bends much more easily.

So, for the first few weeks, concentrate on reducing the swelling. Rest, ice (lots), elevate, and only do gentle exercise. Most importantly, do not allow anyone to do anything to you that causes pain. Discomfort is acceptable. Pain is not.

 

[referee54]

It can take up to a year---and maybe beyond. Some recover faster than others. I can tell you that, after my BTKR, I finally knew that I was getting "close" at about six months and was pretty much done at eight months---but I continued, like Celle, to gain ROM in little tiny increments.

I don't see how anyone can expect to bend their knee fully in the first 2 weeks - it's still swollen and that swelling stops it bending. Think of your knee as being like a hosepipe full of water. It won't bend easily,but an empty hosepipe bends much more easily.

This is an excellent analogy! If you really, really try too hard (or even just hard) in the early days, you are setting yourself up for the "vicious cycle." You work really hard, your knee stiffens up and you get nowhere (even regress, perhaps), so you work even harder---and guess what? Now the knee or knees go on strike!

We want to rush things along---that is our nature; however, when one contemplates how long that it actually took for our knee or knees to get into this sad, arthritic shape, well, months of recovery does not seem like that long of a time period!

We have to have patience and understand that keeping the knee or knees happy is the road to success. Fight the urge to outwork the knee; every time you feel the urge to outwork the knee, tell yourself that you want real progress---and take it gently, ice, and elevate.

 

[BJ Mac]

Hi, Sorry I didn't see this earlier. I will weigh in anyway.

I am a Snowboard instructor and could not walk through the grocery store without being in great pain before my pkr. Yes, I waited extremely long to get this done. My knee bent to the outside. I was quite bowlegged on that side, and also had pain in the opposite hip as a result. I had a right partial knee replacement on April 23rd 2 years ago. My recovery was slow and my surgeon told me not to fall on my knee... UMMM, I am a snowboarder, we fall on our knees or out butt, so I switched back to teaching skiing that December. I lasted all the way till New Years Day before I snowboarded again. I wear hard shell knee pads with gel inserts, and they work great. That first season I needed to take tylenol and advil alternatively every few hours. This season I rarely needed either. I also switched back to primarily snowboarding this year. I only skied about 5 times this season, but snowboarded regularly and taught 3-5 days a week. My hip pain has finally left me as well.

The day that I realized that I could completely go to the grocery store and back home painlessly was a huge victory day for me. (Mind you I was out skiing and snowboarding anyway...lol)

I think that you will be glad that you have chosen to go ahead and do your tkr now rather than later.