TKR Wobbley knee

[cshs78]

Thanks, I have not done PT since August 1. I just wonder if the gait is so off from before. They are right, less is better.

 

[BBCG]

cshs78, my gait was/is very "off"! I spent 25 years following a knee injury adapting to the pain of OA and gradually getting more and more knock-kneed, per my PT. So, eventually, my gait meant swinging my legs out and around the knock-kneed inner knees to avoid the pain. So, I'm relearning how to walk not doing that, although my right leg is still knock-kneed so I can't totally fix my gait yet. I am working on it, though. I bet your gait is that far off from pre-TKR days, if you lived with it a while.

My PT office has someone there who is a sports physiologist, I call her a body detective! She watches me move, say, walk up and down stairs, then has analyzed my patterns and knows which muscles I'm using and which I should be using. (That's the cool detective part...) Then, she's given me exercises to get me to recruit the right muscles for the movement. Thus, I get to do "kitchen sink squats" which now feel really good; they make me use my butt, which I apparently stopped doing some time ago! Who knew! She has me squatting down, pulling my abs and core in, while keeping my shoulder blades back and engaged, to pick up things...another form of squat, but I'm to really pay closely to my form. Now, these might not be good for you to do yet, but see if your PT can help with these sorts of daily living kinds of functions, perhaps, if you want? These would have been very bad for me to do a month or so ago, mind you, but now, they feel wonderful! And my knee feels better and more fluid afterwards, finally!

 

[silty1]

Rule #1: Don't set your recovery by everyone else's timelines. So many variables involved - your age, weight, general health status, support systems, the list is a long one. Did I feel better after 2-3 months? Yep. Did I feel whole? It's been six months and I still have occasional bad days - but none as bad as before surgery. Part of my problem was over-extending. I would have a couple of really good days, then run around like the Energizer Bunny. Not smart. Another problem was others' expectations - I think everyone expected me to come home from the hospital and feel instantly better. Luckily, I have a very good friend who is an OS whose specialty is knees. He called me 3-4 times a week and his message was always the same, "do what you're ordered by the professionals and GIVE YOURSELF TIME." It was a long road, but I'm going to Disney World in February - haven't been in 10 years because of that knee.

 

[cshs78]

6 months today. I would like to find a sports person to check on my gait correctly, BB. I just want to get rid of the swelling. How much longer with this?? So frustrated

 

[Pumpkin]

cshs78,
Recovery can take a year or more, you are just half way there. Ice and elevate your knee for the swelling. You should be able to find someone in Toledo that specialized in gait assessments.
Where are you in recovery?? (TKR)

 

[Clipless]

I had swelling for a good 8 months after my LTKR. My RTKR for whatever reason had much less swelling. Any good physical therapist can help you work on your gait. I needed that, too.

 

[BBCG]

Indeed, Cshs78, one of the most important "lessons" I think a TKR teaches us is good old patience! For some of us, this can't be pushed, poked or prodded; it just goes as fast as the knee is able, no matter how frustrated your brain may get. So, if you can let go of such high expectations that get in the way of your finding that patience, it may actually happen to heal faster. You may be pushing yourself more than your knee likes and I can tell you from experience, that didn't work for me. Hang in there! Your new baby knee has its own rate of recovery and it's up to us to listen, I have found... you'll get there! Really!

 

[cshs78]

Thanks all. I heard in the beginning my knee will be fine in 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 3 months, 6 months. Doctor did say a year. Until then, I guess I need to find some patience, though I am an active person, not exercise wise, but doing volunteer and other work. Plus I teach kindergarten

 

[Celle]

Teaching kindergarten in a pretty active job, probably all the exercise you knee needs.
Your surgeon was right. It really does take at least a year before healing is 100%.
Some people take a little longer. I think that my last TKR felt completely recovered by about 18 months. It was possibly recovered before then, but I didn't trust it fully until then.

 

[little red canoe]

Fine is different according to different measurements. Your surgeon may be happy when the incision is healed and you can get around..
That's one phase
Being powerful at getting around is I bet a longer phase.. I'm now working on duration and power when walking.. And uneven ground is sure different.

I expect it will be some time before the knee shuts up for good.

 

[cshs78]

I am 6 months post op. Around 3 months, I went back to work as a kindergarten teacher. Then I started to have ankle pain and swelling on the same side. To make a long story short, my foot doctor has said I have posterior tibial tendonitis. I go to PT for 2 weeks, 3 times a week and see how I am doing. If not, a cast for 6 weeks. I said why did this happen. I over did it, he said. Will this affect my new knee?

 

[newlybionic]

I dint think that it will affect your knee. I will ask @Josephine if it will cause you any difficulties.

 

[Josephine]

I heard in the beginning my knee will be fine in 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 3 months, 6 months. Doctor did say a year.

It depends which little bit of recovery they were referring to. The overall recovery is generally thought to be around 12 months but nothing's carved in tablets of stone!

To make a long story short, my foot doctor has said I have posterior tibial tendonitis. I go to PT for 2 weeks, 3 times a week and see how I am doing. I said why did this happen. I over did it, he said. Will this affect my new knee?

I tend to agree with him.
28

I'd like to ask you some questions if you don't mind, and it would be very helpful if you would answer each one individually - numbered as I have done - in as much detail as you can then I'll come back as see where you are ....

1. what are your pain levels right now? (remember the 1-10 scale: 1 = no pain and 10 = the worst you can imagine) Don't forget to factor in other forms of pain such as soreness, burning, stabbing, throbbing, aching, swelling and stiffness

2. what pain medications are you using just now, how much are you taking (in mg please) and how often?

3. if your leg is swollen, how swollen is it compared to these?

4. what is your ROM - that's flexion (bend) and extension (straightness)

5. are you still icing your knee at all? If so, how often and for how long?

6. are you still elevating your leg. If so how often and for how long?

7. what is your present activity level? What do you do in the way of work, housework, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc.

8. what kind of PT exercises and exercises at home are you doing? How much and how often?
This is the most crucial question so please help me by using the format I have left as an example
(which means please make a list and not an essay!)

Exercises done at home: (how many sessions to you do each day)
please enter name or description of exercise then the number of repetitions of each
etc., etc.

At PT (how many times a week)
please enter name or description of exercise then the number of repetitions of each
etc., etc.

 

[little red canoe]

@cshs78, Not to get in the way of Josephine questions.... my husband has the same posterial tibial tendonitis. His doctor put him in a boot that was removable at night for six weeks. You could call it a cast. It was ok to walk in it but the doc wanted as little motion as possible Now he wears a brace as the surgery to fix the tendon is dramatic and the recovery very long..longer than TKR.

Long story short ask if a cast can be removable. He never did PT for the tendonitis as was so irritated

 

[kneeper]

I had this with plantar fasciitis--I had the boot for a few weeks. It helped the tendon rest and heal.
After it healed up I got an orthotic for my shoes which has helped prevent a recurrence.

 

[little red canoe]

According to my surgeon swelling can last a year.. And for me not to obsess about it.

He is seeing me again. He will see me every six weeks till I get 0 extension I guess. The follow up visit was unremarkable but he wasn't happy with minus three and told me to work on it.

 

[sistersinhim]

When I had plantar fasciitis my doctor said to fill a glass Coke bottle or something similar with water and freeze it. Once frozen then with my bare foot with the bottle on the floor, run my foot back and forth over it. This helped me tremendously! You might want to try it.

 

[Josephine]

Not happy with -3? Gee, he's a hard man to please - how much is 3 degrees?! Hardly the length of the word!

 

[Josephine]

my doctor said to fill a glass Coke bottle or something similar with water and freeze it. Once frozen then with my bare foot with the bottle on the floor, run my foot back and forth over it.

I had a patient in my OH clinic who had bilateral PF. I told him to do that. When I saw him the next month, he told he it felt so good he spent the entire afternoon (whilst watching an FA cup final!) doing it without a pause. He said the next morning his feet were "swelled up like pudd'ns"! (puddings) But later he was seen by another doctor who diagnosed a spinal condition for which he had surgery and his PF was magically cured!
You can never tell!

 

[cshs78]

Thanks, newly bionic. Little red and Knepper-I was curious about reoccurrence. I will discuss orthotics when I go back after PT. Josephine-
1. Knee pain-basically none, but ankle starts out at 0 and by the end of the day can be an 8
2.No pain meds
3. knee is between moderate to slight swelling, but I have fat knees any ways, but by feeling moderate to slight
4.O extend 120 flex but that was in July when I was still verrrrrrrrry swollen. I feel my bend has gotten much better
5. No ice
6. No elevate
7. Activity-normal stuff, but with the holidays, yuck, shopping. Plus I do volunteer work at church and this is a busy time for that. Also I teacher kindergarten!!!
8. No exercise but aqua zumba a few times per week
9. Knee PT since August because they said I was too good. PT to foot in early October which didn't work because they worked the wrong area. Thinking of going to a different place for PT for the ankle now.