Hi all i am six weeks tkr today, my bend is only 80 degrees and has been this for last three weeks my physo been upped to twice weekly, the pain is hard to bear sometimes still taken medication , feel so depressed as dont feel like im getting anywere, dont get much sleep through the night so that doesnt help, i doing exercises daily i go for walks daily using one crutch, please tell me things get better as feeeling so low
Hi Carol
hang in there, things do get better. My bend was just measured today at 85 and its been tough getting it this far. Im 3 1/2 weeks post op. dont worry about the numbers other folks achieve. I too was discouraged and my physio simply says knees are ALL
different and some simply take longer than others.
folk on this forum will attest to that. Use lots of ice, pain meds, do the exercises faithfuly and you will be sailing in no time. Stay positive, much better roads jst up ahead!
Thanks peter. keep telling myself that i have physio again today so hopefully bend a bit better also got docs soon so ill have a chat with her about way i feel, i think its more to do with not getting a nights sleep and i suppose like everyone, just wont no pain. i know that will come in time .
Hiya, I'm 6 wks 3 days post op and my bend is stuck at 75 and that's hanging off the side of the bed. No way can I get it at this just sat normally. I've only just achieved a straight leg raise this week. I feel like I've been behind a lot of people. Hopefully when I go Physio today it's gone up a little. I also take loads of meds still. Tried reducing them last week and I couldn't cope. My gp said he'd rather me taking the tablets and being able to exercise than not. We can sort the pills out later.
We will get there soon!! Chin up
Julia x
Hi Carol, six weeks isn't very long. Everyone is different but we all get there in the end. 80 is more than I was at six weeks. Stop worrying and give yourself a break. Your body has had a major trauma, give it time to heal.
I used to cringe every time I saw that plastic measuring thing. You can have a good guess where I would have liked to have shoved it!
Go to your GP and get your pain meds sorted. Take them on time, before the pain sets in. Ask for a stronger one to take at night to give you some sleep, that's what I did. Take your meds an hour before you exercise, so that you don't exercise in pain.
Pain meds, exercise, ice and elevation and rest.
We are all here for you.
Caz x
Hello
I am 4 weeks post-op and my bend is 75. I am working really hard to improve this with physio and not shirking my exercises. I work every day on this. I had my first nights sleep last night since my op only waking 3 times and i feel so much better. You just need to keep pushing and working on it and it will come. If you dont then you will regress so that would be much worse. It has taken me 4 weeks to be able to lift my foot from the mattress. The lady opposite me could do that in the first week. We are so different with different histories so just know that you are doing your best and keep going. Xx
Carol, this has been the worst thing I have ever undertaken. Please don't worry - I am at 10weeks+, & I'm only measured at 80 degrees too. However - the pain started to get better about a week ago, although at night it feels like the leg is made of lead, & I physically have to pull it into the position I'd like to try & sleep in! My physio has been my salvation - I go weekly, but I'm on a cancellation list where she rings me at short notice to go in if anyone cancels, which has happened twice so far. I too felt very, very low - but on the 30th Dec, a friend died of cancer, which has put this whole thing into perspective, so I'm trying to look for positives, as I am alive! My best advice has been from someone who has been through this too, she told me to sit in a rocking chair (we nearly threw it our years ago!) & slowly rock back & forth - it REALLY hurt to start with, but now I can sit & watch a programme on TV without pain. Keep your operated foot on the ground, it really does stretch it. The other thing is to do ice - but heat also. All those muscles, ligaments & tendons have been frigged around with, since my physio told me use a wrapped up hot water bottle above the knee, massaging it every few minutes, that pain has also diminished to an acceptable level. Try it. I take the bottle to bed, place it above the knee, & actually sleep now! Hope this helps you. I despaired until I found this forum, & realised not everybody is text book!
Hi Carol
i know its hard at your stage and you wonder why you bothered.
i know I cried my eyes out most nights with the pain
but please believe me it does get better ...you will notice a little improvement every day
the exercises are sometimes so painful but really neccessary
before you know it you will be on here encouraging others just like I am with you
please don't despair
sleep/ exercise/ Ice / medication are the things to concentrate on right now and the bend will come.
be kind to yourself
take care
Jean
thanks julia , certainly ,made me feel a bit better , been docs and she has changed my meds so hopefully they will help, have got physio soon so will see what ben dis like then, i know its time and thank god for this forum x
thanks caz, just been docs and meds been changed so hopefully they wil help have physio soon so im just hoping for a little improvement there x
thank u and i will i know its day at a time and i will get there thank god for this forum x
hi veronica, i get u on the worse thing, i used to think i had a high pain threshold until i had this, will try the water bottle this evening thanks for advice xx
hi jean have been icing and taking meds just been docs and meds been changed so hopefully these wil help i know its time and i wil get there thank god for this forum as it helps x
Yes I found this forum a godsend
it makes you realise how differently everyone recovers
I haven't had a great time of it but I'm probably the odd one out
I sleep most nights with no pain meds...but I still exercise every day
I bought a little Pedal exerciser from Amazon and found it invaluable
I can't use a static bike due to other problems
don't forget to concentrate on the straightening too ..that's just as important to stop you being left with a limp
take care
Jean
Hi Carol
Can you get into the water.... a hydrotherapy pool, have the physio give you some exercises or just walk and squat in the water. It will help so much..... but your wound must be completely healed no scabs..... good luck! I am 10 weeks and got into the water at 6 weeks, thankfully.... so good.... relief immediate!
Cheers Carol
Yesterday, went to see my consultant for my follow up eight weeks after TKR. He said I am making a text book recovery. I have 120 degree bend but am still 3 degrees off straighening it. I walk without sticks and have come off all medication although I do feel uncomfortable at night. I still feel my good progress is down to cycling in the gym for twenty mins, three times a weeks. I also use gym machines to exercise my hamstrings and quads. I complained to my consultant that if I walk the dog over five miles I do get some discomfort the next day to which he said dismissed as most people do not walk a mile at my stage. I also asked him if I was over doing it and he said emphatically no and said just continue as you are. What I did not know was that he said he felt it necessary to smooth the underside of my knee cap that was badly roughed with arthritis. I cannot recomend sitting on a bike in the gym enough. It not only exercises the joint, it increases the blood flow speeding the healing and your bend will improve considerably.
I am with you carol, six weeks and still can't get anywhere near the bend others have. I have Physio Monday and dreading it. But then I have never had what others have had regards physio. It gets me down too? I have been to supermarket this morning and my leg was so stiff. The co codamol make me feel sick at times with headache all day so I have gone back to paracetamol which don't touch the pain. I am seeing gp on Monday too to discuss this. I get really panicked when I hear about others with the bend they have achieved.😔
I've been physio this morning and now I can do a straight leg raise my bend is 68!! What's that all about?? Haha.
One step forward two backwards. Lots of swelling to still being down that I feel is stopping my leg bend.
This forum has been invaluable for me. Just to see that people are all different and not text book. I worried so much and got so down that I wasn't doing it right.
I still get quite emotional because I want to get up and go and can't yet.
Best wishes
Julia x
hi susan, went to physio this morning and he did a few massages m on my patella and a few more leg exercises actually got it to just over 80, a big step for me will be doing teh exercises he has given me, and will keep u posted, doc upped my dehydrcodiene so hopefully that will help, just need to get that good night sleep now x
You're lucky carol, all I get when I go to physio is being told how to walk, few leg raises and told to come back in a week or maybe two. It's bad really when you see the amount of physio that goes on in other countries. I feel that I have been left to my own devices. I am thinking of private hydrotherapy which is going to cost a fortune