Hi everyone. I am 16 days post TKR I've been to hell and back including allergies to dressings but I'm finally on the mend. (I HOPE) . I can put full weight on no problem I can walk without sticks in house but use 2 if I go put just in case my knee gives in like it tends to quite often. I have a 90 bend but can't seem to go any further. I know the muscles ligaments etc are stiff but it doesn't feel muscular it feels mire like the joint. It's a sharp pain under the knee...is this normal? I can do leg raise no problem quite high I can lift it my leg onto a raised couch (that I had raised fir THR) but it's the bending past 90 it's getting me down. Is this normal? Also does anyone have a sore foot with excessive bruising?
I think you are doing really well for only 16 days post op. I think what you've achieved is brilliant so I wouldn't worry at all. You will get more movement within the next few weeks. Well done you!
Hello Shirley, sorry to hear your distress. I also didn,t have a very good bend . Now at 8wks post op, I can only get 95 on a good day. I was interested in your comment on allergy to dressing as I came up in blisters on that knee. Recovery is long and frustrating at times, but hang on in there. Meds, ice, exercise, ice and elevate.
Hi Shirley . I would try not to worry about your bend at this stage. It will get slowly better. You are really doing well and its a long hard road. It's surprising where the bruising comes from but they will begin to disappear as your body heals. You have been through such a truama and your body wants to heal and rest at its own pace.i know the feeling of wanting to do more and that you should be further down the recovery road than you are, but we all heal at different rates. Just try to relax a little you will get there in time my freind.
HI Shirley
At just 16 days you are doing really well. 90 degrees at 16 days is great. I am 9 weeks and just 90 degrees. And I do full on every day physio (I am in France) and excercises too. I hae so re assured by this forum that we are all different and take time to do things differently. But poor you. Dressibg allergy. Who would have thought! I used t be allergic to elastoplast gum but they changed it years ago and all ok now.
Everything sounds very, very normal to me! Yes, my foot was very very painful, and swollen . .couldn't bear to put it to the floor for days. 90 degrees at 16 days sounds pretty good . .it's just a matter of keeping on and on, pushing just past comfort level, not to the really screaming level! Re leg lifts, my PT said that taking it too high was not actually an advantage . . and uses different muscles. . and better to lift about 18 inches from the bed, and hold for four or five seconds, before lowering it slowly (again that uses different muscles apparently. Very early days to be worrying about the bend. . and please don't forget the extension. I didn't really work on that and now have a problem trying to get the damned thing straight! Wish I had concentrated more at the beginning on that, but my PT kept saying it was the swelling maing the knee look bent. . . rubbish! It IS bent!
Sounds to me as if you are doing very well. By continuing with the basics, the bend will eventually come. Most folks, at 16 days, are lagging far behind your progress. Stay steady and don't be so worried about bend you forget about straight.most docs and therapists will tell you straight is the key. Be sure to stay hydrated, get plenty of rest and work steadily but not so much as to hurt yourself and have a set back. Good luck
Thank you everyone. I was thinking I was lagging behind. I just thought I would let you all know that I have been massaging with cypress oil in olive oil. I think it's amazing. My surgeon recommended it to me. well it's either the oil working or my own hands haha. Never give up is my motto no matter how much it hurts.
You're doing really well for 16 days. I was told the surgeons and physios expect 90 degrees at 6 week check. From then on it seems to get easier and easier as the swelling reduces and your muscle strength increases.
I was also told that the expected bend of 90 degrees was at 6 weeks so you really are doing very well indeed after just 16 days.
Sounds like you are making great progress really. Just as an aside I told the physio that I was not using my crutch in the house and got told off (nicely)! Apparently it can be better for your gait in the early weeks to use a crutch as you are then focussed on how you are walking and bending the knee rather than balancing. Makes it difficult to carry things though - back to the backpack! Hope you continue to do well.
Hi and welcome Shirley - sounds as though you're doing really well at such an early stage. Yes did have considerable bruising - on the medial part of the leg above around and below the knee also the inner part of my foot went black!! also v swollen but didn't hurt. My guess is it was blood escaping during the op and migrating down the leg into foot. Lasted about 2-3 weeks.
I can relate to the bend and sore ankles at your stage, but don't know about the psin in the knee. 90 bend is good though.
Yes the surgeon did say I was a bleeder I was bruised from just below my waist to toes very badly bruised. Does anyone get a feeling that their wound is bleeding
I think you are doing marvellous!
If you have any doubt a simple blood test to look at you hemoglobin levels can quickly answer the question. I go ready to leave the hospital after surgery last week and started feeling rotten. Sure enough the levels were off enough they had to give me avunit of blood and keep me oneore day. Between the staph and low blood count I was feeling rotten. 24 hrs later I was ready to wall on out of there.......except for the fact I was missing the prosthesis and being held together by stitches and an immobilizer.
omg , thats not good , they may have wanted to keep you in for good conversation 
well done , keep it up but dont push too hard , your doing great