l am 10/11 weeks post TKR. l feel so low my pain is more than ever. Have excellent ROM but my physio says because l have a knocked knee my muscles and tendons have to get used to the straight knee. My knee feels very painful and sometimes unstable. l am finding it really painful to drive which of course makes me feel even worse as l cannot get out. l can walk less now than 5 weeks ago. l am normally a very positive person but right now l cannot see the wood from the trees and feel totally depressed. My only pain relief is Panadol as all other drugs cannot be continued. Has anyone else felt this bad and survived this awful op to which at the moment l wish with all my heart l had not had. Lots of tears all the time.
hi im sorry to hear this x it will get better in time x i use ice at least three times a day to get the e swelling down whicu is prob causibg your pain x keep it bending as much as possible too x
Hi. I am only 2.5 weeks post op, however after reading this forum i feel a lot better knowing its not only me that thinks things arent going to get any better. After reading these post i have realised that i was pushing myself far too much at the beginning and i am not pushing the excercises over and above anymore.I am still excercising 3 times a day, each time i take pain killers half an hour before and put a cool pad on my knee after each set of excercises. i find this really does help and now my swelling has stsrted to reduce. I feel your pain and i now realise my recovery is going to be slow but i do feel a bit better in myself now i am not overdoing the excercises. Keep going i feel we will get there x
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I can certainly sympathize! I felt good from weeks 3-6/7 , but tendons and the nerve pain took over. Lots of tears and dissapointment on my end during the process. Many days I have had more pain than prior to the surgery , which is very depressing. I did receive a treatment called " dry needling" that is a combination of accupuncture with electrodes attached. They turn the current up to stimulate and activate the muscles. Somewhat painful, but well worth it. Physical manipulation by the PT was more successful after as well. I am fortunate to have had my left knee replaced which makes driving Ok. Hope you find relief soon!
Oh, you are not alone , I also wish I had never had it done!!!! and Im 18 months po.
Thank you. How many weeks are you know. Have you gone back to work.
IT WILL GET BETTER! I know it seems dark today but push through each day. I am 12 weeks post op on left knee, I have a hit tub that i get in then follow the heat with ice. I still have burning on the left side but I am hoping for pain free soon! Hang in there, you are not alone
Thank you. Anything positive helps. Good luck to you also.
Do you have a lot of pain still. Can you walk very far.
I had TKR in 2002. It is a long road to recovery. Yes it was very painful but at no point did I wish I had not had the operation. Now my knee is not perfect (it never will be) but it is considerably better than it was before TKR. It is still very early days for you, hang in there and do not give up. Do take care and keep in touch. Sarah
hi x you have to remember that you just had major surgery x its gonna b time now to heal and hopefully pain free also try to think of the long term result rather than now x im eleven weeks post op left total knee but ive had partial knee done nearly one year before which failed x after this one i too thought i would never recover but it is literally diffrent as the weeks go by x i go back to work end september i hope x best of luck and keep icing it and moving it all the time x
Post-Operative Depression is extremely common in patients who have had an original part of them replaced. It's a sub-conscious mourning for the lost piece of original equipment. Once you know what it is, kick it out the door...
The problem is that the docs don't tell you about it and you end up dealing with it anyway. POD can be exacerbated by unrealistic expectations about progress and time tables. Get those ideas out of your head. This is a year-long, very slow, very gradual recovery that is measured in months, not days or even weeks. Accept the reality of it and do the work, give the knee time and have patience.
Not yet....I am supposed to return at the beginning of September. I am going to ask for a two week extension from my employer. I feel that I need to improve my balance and stamina.
so sorry to hear about your pain. i am 3 wks post Bilateral tkrs. i started swimming this week and it really helps with swelling. are you able to swim?
I had knock knees too and there have been times when I have wondered whether it was going to be worth it. Every time I saw the surgeon's registrar he told me how much more complicated it was and I came across others on a different forum who were also having a harder time having had knock knees, so I didn't feel quite so alone. Once it was explained to me that the Iliotibial Band, that goes from the hip down the outside of the leg, comes round in front of the lower part of the kneecap to join the tibia, shortens through being knock kneed and needs to stretch I found it easier to understand what was happening. This band is rather like a seat belt and fairly rigid. It takes time and a lot of stretching to lengthen it.. When I think of how many years over which it shortened, it's no wonder it's not going to stretch overnight.
You can google Iliotibial Band Syndrome and stretches to help. It does get better. For ages I felt as if I was walking with a wonky wheel and find it hard to walk in a straight line, but I'm fine now. I have pain still at the lower outside of the knee coming in towards the centre coming downstairs, which is when the band is being stretched more, but on the whole things are improving, but it's a bit of a stop/start process - I improve and then am static for a while, might even go backwards for a while if I overdo things, but I don't regret having the surgery any more. I'm now 7 months in and can do most things and my physio is massaging the band and giving me more stretches to help and I'm positive it will get there eventually.
It is usual to feel depressed and down from time to time, but you're not even a quarter of the way through this year of recovery so don't give up and ask for more time off if you need it before going back to work and then request a phased return. Good luck!
Thank you so much for your realistic but positive reply. I wish it had been explained more to me from my physio. l guess the answer is to find a good physio that explains things so we dint go over board thinking its never going to get better. THANK YOU AGAIN. Best wishes to you.
Thank you. l so helps to hear your comments.
Thank you. Perhaps the surgeons might give us a more realistic time line. My surgeon said l would be back to work in 6 weeks. l can cope if l know exactly what l am dealing with. Thank you once again.
Hi LYNDA49844 Can you remember if you carried on walking even with the soreness. l do the exercises the physio gave me l always have. Not sure if l should just keep walking or does this make it worse. Physio said just 20 mins but that seems such a short time. We all know we have to keep moving.