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TKR Zakie's TKR Recovery Thread

I'd stay away from heat right now. You are still very early in this recovery process and you most likely already have swelling. The heat could make it much worse.

I read in one of your posts that riding in the car was uncomfortable. Are you going out of the house and making car trips on a routine basis?

You mention that your stretches and icing are having "no effect." What effect are you expecting at this point? My feeling is that you are probably expecting too much from your baby knee. It might be a good idea to go back and read the recovery articles that were posted for you earlier in this thread. The important thing for you to do at this point is lots of rest, icing, elevation and keeping your pain under control. Please don't try to cut down on pain meds at this stage if you are still having any discomfort.
 
Yes definitely not directly on knee or near wound, just around calf.
I've done a bit of reading on it and it does say you can but I wanted to pass it by the experts first.


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@Jamie thank you. There doesn't seem to be any swelling in my calf or ankle, yes moderate swelling in knee still.
Only once a week in the car, as I'm having a weekly injection to desensitise me for allergies. Can't bend enough to get in front seat still, so I'm outstretched on back seat.

The effect I was looking for was more relief from discomfort as it's quite tight in my calf when walking any amount of steps. It was like this before surgery but ache seems to have increased since post op.

Yes following the recovery guidelines and haven't cut down my meds even though I did previously say I would.

You are probably right I'm expecting too much.


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One car trip a week shouldn't be a problem. The tightness you feel in your calf is swelling and that should lessen in a couple of weeks if you maintain your regimen of rest, ice, elevation and pain meds on a schedule. Don't attempt a lot of exercises at this point. Just the gentle bends and stretches throughout the day added to walks about your house every hour or so are plenty to keep your knee mobile. Remember that you can have what's known as "referred pain" in other parts of your leg that is generated by your irritated tissues in your new knee. So don't be surprised when it hurts in other places or the pain moves around. That's very normal and it just needs gentle care and time to resolve. Try to relax. Do some things you don't normally get to do to pamper yourself. Watch movies. Read if you can concentrate enough for that. Take naps. Sit in the sun and enjoy nature. Talk to friends on the phone or have them stop by for visits. Do simple crafts. Surf the web. Play games. Whatever you enjoy but don't usually get to indulge in when life is going at full speed. This is a time for YOU. You and your healing are first and you must not feel the least bit guilty about giving your body what it needs to succeed.
 
@Jamie advice taken on board.

Didn't think of the referred pain, was more thinking about my gait being off causing the pain or the tendon/muscle shortening in calf. I'm getting lower back pain too from the leg and constant resting. So I'm rubbing fisiocrem into it, actually I'm rubbing the Fisiocrem into my calf as well. Would heat work on the back?

https://www.fisiocrem.com.au

And yes I'm doing the exercises sporadically across the day, no full reps yet, as my body is saying to take it easy and build slowly up to reps. Always swell after too many reps and exercise at once and pain sets in.

Spoil myself is what I'm hearing as I won't get to do this again without feeling guilty!!

Much appreciated


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People think resting after a tkr is spoiling ourselves. Not true. I'm sure every one of us would rather have been up doing the things we wanted to do. But, that's not realistic for a new knee. While we are doing the recovery guidelines, we are doing our job to heal this knee the best way. It's not a vacation by any means! So, don't look at it as spoiling yourself, look at it as working to heal yourself! Because it does take a lot of work to get through this recovery!
 
It is a job what we're doing and the payment is the recovery. The napping/sleeping is healing, the resting, icing and elevating are reducing the swelling thus healing. You're right @sistersinhim. We are taking care of ourselves.



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I had back pain in the first few weeks of recovery also. In a month or so when you're up a bit more and walking more that back pain will subside. Another may replace it though!
 
You are doing a good job managing your recovery! I honor your honesty about your anxiety and depression you are wise to be on top of those issues. Continue to take good care and manage your recovery! You'll love your new knee soon!
 
Putting a heating pad on your back will be just fine. I hope that helps you. You're correct that it is possible your leg is hurting because of improper gait. My question then is, why are you walking improperly? If you're having difficulty getting a good stride going with crutches, then you need to be using a walker. It gives much better support to a recovering knee. I know no one like to use a walker, but it's only temporary. Remember, the goal is to make the best environment possible for healing to take place. As an example, for both my knees I never used crutches. I used a walker around the house for about 6 weeks until I was strong enough to walk without it and not limp. At that point, I was starting to go out a bit and carried a cane in case I needed it.

So, you might consider giving a walker a try.
 
I bought crutches from Amazon but never used them. My walker was my best friend for about a month. Of course, in the house I was able to walk without it after a couple of weeks as long as I had something I could grab hold to if I leg gave out. I did use it going to the bathroom at night for about a month, but mainly because it was dark and I didn't want to step on a cat! And with a walker you can really practice that heal to toe step and increase your stride. Both of those things and good for your gait.
 
It's a bit different in Australia and NZ from what happens in the US. Here, we tend to use crutches and probably only use a walker on the first day post-op. My hospital hired out the crutches for a nominal sum, but there was never the opportunity to hire a walker.

You can still practice striding out and concentrating on the heel to toe step, even with crutches. You just need to concentrate on walking slowly and getting the right movements. Think about it with every step you take, Zakie.
 
Thanks @Celle I was actually going to comment about the difference in walking aids. They like to discharge you with crutches in Aus, so I was only using the walker for a day.

I am already practicing the heel to toe step, as I thought this may help. Was thinking back to previous knee surgeries, and what Physio's had told me to do then.

As I mentioned this was quite sore for many months before the operation, as I know my gait was definitely off...constant limping, finding a stride that didn't aggravate the knee too much, constant lower back pain and often all the way up to my neck.

Maybe it's not my gait being off now, it's my body getting use to the correct position that it hasn't been in a long time. :)

It's all good, I'll keep applying the fisiocrem and icing and I'm sure it will all right itself.



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Soooo woke today aching all over with a headache. Especially my hips, back, neck and shoulders... knee has swelled over night to a balloon. Hasn't been this size in a week. Even the thigh has swelled more. Struggling to get any bend in the knee today at all.

Didn't sleep differently than I have since coming home. Flat on my back with an ice on after I elevated for an hour.

Yesterday I did my usual nothing extra, accept I had a shower. Last time I had a shower I couldn't bend my knee enough when sitting on a shower chair to shut door, last night I could shut the door, wasn't aching being in that position, I felt a stretch but nothing major.
I've checked wound fir signs of infection but it looks fine. I have no temp or sweats/chills.
How can a shower affect my whole body? I'd say that's the culprit for the knee swell but the rest of the body?
Maybe it's something viral or just my body not liking resting around so much.



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Yes, I think a shower can affect your whole body. Probably, you were subconsciously protecting your knee, stressing other parts of your body. And that stretch you felt more than likely is causing your knee to be angry with you today. It takes very little to upset these things! Spend the day elevating, icing and taking your meds. I did find that laying around too much made a lot of my other parts complain, so I got up every hour or so just to be able to move around. That helped, plus it was good for the knee, too.
 
Yeah I didn't think of subconsciously protecting whole body, good pick up.
Yes spent day, icing, elevating and taking meds with walks around house to try and loosen up.

Thanks


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There were quite a few days that I woke up with body aches and pains. I put it down to the trauma of surgery. As for the swelling, it could be the shower or just this roller coaster ride that is TKR recovery.
 
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