Hi,
Had a very slow recovery from TKR in Feb 2014. Required a Manipulation after 6 weeks and probably was a full YEAR before I felt less pain than before the Op. Should point out that I'd had over 20 Ops across both knees over past 40 years and was told at age 30 that I would need 2 new knees but they wouldn't do them till I was 55. Had first one done at 53.5 so got in early ;-)
Was obviously very low after the Op as I got A) An abcess the size of a small country on side of face (from under a tooth) - Then B) Came out in Hives when someone changed the type of Laundry powder (I generally change powder every time one is on offer and never had an issue).
Was physcologically beat after 3-4 months as saw NO improvement despite taking huge amounts of pain trying to get knee bending. Good news is I did come out the other end and suddenly my knee started feeling like a real knee again. Around 12 months post-op I realised I wasn't feeling any arthritis pain (in that knee - still plenty in the other).
Whilst I'm very happy with where I am now, I still have an issue in as much as I'm 19 Stone and really have to bash the Cardio to keep my weight even half way manageable (I was 17.5 Stone with 7% Body Fat when I played professional sport aged 30).
I have been using an Eliptical x-trainer 5 times a week for an Hour each time burning 1000 Calories per session. I can use this method but am scared that I may be wearing out my knee as it's equivalent to about 30KM per week at quite a high resistance (to burn 1000 cals).
So I started to replace the x-trainer with swimming thinking it maybe even less impactful and, in an hour, I'm only swimming about 1K.
Here's my problem - Due to shoulder injury (from contact sports back in the day) the only stroke I can really do (for a prolonged period) is Breath Stroke. I'm now concerned that it may be the WORST stroke for people with TKR as it involves kicking the legs from the knees and they're not always in-line (like when doing freestyle)
So my quiestion is - Does anyone with TKR do long stretches of BREATH STROKE swimming and has it had any negative effect over the long term?
I'm annoyed that even though I can bend my knee probably to somewhere near 110/120 degrees, I still can't get "Over the Top" when trying to ride a bike without pain and swelling. If I cycle 1KM on the flat at very gentle pace, I can't walk for about a week as knee swells 12-24 hours after bike ride.
Being that I'm not a small chap - What exercises could people recommend where I can burn plenty of cals without wearing out my TKR
Thanks for any/all advice