I'm wondering when i should be able to go down stairs properly, not one at a time. I can manage up stairs provided there is a handrail, although I still do it pretty slowly and with a lot of concentration, but there is just no way I can contemplate going down. I think I need a better bend (I'm only at about 90, six weeks tomorrow :-( ) I know we are all different, and progress varies enormously, but it would be interesting to hear other people's experience of this particular milestone.
Hi,
Had my first tkr last June and would say it takes a good 12 weeks to achieve walking downstairs one leg after the other. Might still make you jump sometimes, though.
Hi Martin,
I am 4 weeks in and can go down stairs as long as they are not too steep and there is a handrail on the right (left joint replaced). Its not easy and I agree its about the bend but also it's a fear thing.
I had a few glasses of wine a 2 weeks ago and thought that I would come down stairs at home as normal. Big mistake ! Our stairs are very steep and I really bend the knee further than it was capable of at the time. It was agony and it scared me a bit. Since then the physio has had me going down stairs at the hospital and I can manage that, slowly though.
It is a confidence thing so keep trying and you will get it. (I still can't manage my own at home but I'm working at it !)
Mike
I think it is a bit early for you to be thinking of this yet. I am 12 weeks and can do it, very gingerly though.m. Don't force it, it will come. Don't be in a rush to do everything, you are still healing. These last few days I have begun to feel normal but still have a long way to go. Master the walking up first.
You are doing well Mike! At four weeks I was still a useless wreck! It's partly the fear of it hurting so much you lose balance and end up going down stairs faster than you wanted! I'm practising now on a plastic step, so I practise the bend without the fear of falling all the way down!
thanks Susan! I have a very abrasive surgeon, and I know he's going to haul me over the coals when I see him on Wednesday . . He seems to expect miracles, and I am far from miraculous!
I'll be aiming for telve weeks i think! I find it good to have specific goals, but not to be too depressed if you can't make it! I was having trouble walkinga kilometre a day . . and then suddenly discovered I had measured it wrongly, and it was actually two kilometres! great morale booster!!!
I am 12 weeks and can do everything except the stairs, can't do up or down properly. I am going back to my exercises and hoping my physio will help me get past this next Tuesday. We all have our little oddities! My knee is still very swollen but doesn't hurt, haven't iced for weeks but wondering if it would help?
Hi there, the stairs can be a problem for some time and its not only the knee hurting its also balance. I am 26weeks I have a rail on both sides of the stairs, it really helps. I also have a stair lift which I no longer need or use. I still find the stairs difficult when I am out I have to hold the rail with both hands and go sideways one foot and then the other on each step. It's a lot to do with confidence also. Some days I feel a little shaky when I go out even though I am walking well. We just have to be a bit patient I suppose, but its very hard. Don't beat yourself up you will get there.
Thanks Liz . . my knee and lower leg is still swollen too but I think this is pretty normal! I haven't iced much at all . . perhaps I should have! I kept asking for ice in the hospital, but all they had was a block which was not a lot of use, and to get that you had to ask about twenty times, so in the end I gave up . . . Now I've got it in the freezer, I hardly ever bother!
hi tucks glad to see on another post that you are feeling better! I think having been a year going up and down stairs one at a time has conditioned the brain into thinking that's the way it's done, and it doesn't want to relearn the old way! I'll keep at it though . it would be lovely to come down stairs noramlly! Does your knee still hurt at 26 weeks? Is this ever going to end????
You say that you are not icing at all. Do you not have any swelling? What about after exercising. I have an ice sleeve that goes around the knee snd find it invaluable for psin relief sfter exercising.
When I was in hospital we had an huge chest freezer full of ice cuffs and we could either help ourselves or the nurses would bring them within minutes. On discharge I was given four of these cuffs to bring home. I did use them at first, but as there was no pain and they seemed to chill all of me I stopped using them. I do wonder whether icing would help to reduce the swollen knee and what seems to be a pocket just below the knee on the top of the calf, or will this just go in time?
I was about 10 weeks when I could walk downstairs properly. Now at 15 weeks I do not even have to think about it. Work your quadriceps a lot and the stairs will be easier. I just started taking the pool ladder foot over foot a few days ago. I was surprised and very happy when I did it without thinking and it was fine.
Everyone is at their own speed. By the way my bend was 90 when I could first do stairs but now at 100 degrees it is easy.
I'm afraid the hospital over here was not very patient friendly! Once they disconnected my antibiotic drip so I could go to the loo, and when i came back they forgot to reconnect it. A little while later I rang the bell, and the nurse came in, arms akimbo on her hips and said ;NOW what is it!' as if i had been ringing the bell all day. In fact, i hardly ever did because my husband was with me and most things he did for me until I was able to do it myself!. I wonder about the swollen knee . . I have to say my sister in law had the operation about six years ago and they still look a bit swollen to me! But maybe it's just the shape of her knees or the fact that she is very overweight.. . . .As long as they don't hurt, I'm not that worried! Always wear trousers anyway . . .
Right . .my bend is about 90 so I should be able to do it! Have to keep practising. . . . . .Starting at a hydrotherapy centre on Monday . . . perhaps that will help!
Yes, it is swollen . . but not painful. i suppose I should be icing more, should I??? At the beginning it was very hot and hurt, but unless I'm actively bending it, it doesn't hurt now . .
Hi liz I have ice packs that you put in sleeve and wrap around the knee with Velcro. I have found this so helpful, didn't cost THA much but can be heated if you require it as well.
I start hydrotherapy which I have to pay for myself privately on Monday in the hope that if will increase my bend... So I hooe it Erie otherwise I will waste £300!!!
It took me some time, but I worked out that if you point your foot outwards (ie in the 10 to 2 position) it's much easier.