Hi, I'm waiting for a knee replaceent, will I be able to use my upstairs toilet? I don't have one downstairs.
Yes. You have to show them you can walk before you can leave the hospital. Be sure to get a toilet riser for the first couple of weeks. I had bilateral total knee replacements last summer and am doing quite well. I have worked hard to make it back. It will be a blessing for your life. Good luck. Do all the things the doctors and physical therapists tell you to do.
Yes, you can walk upstairs...but...
- the first few weeks will be a challenge
- if you live with someone get help
- if you don't, you'll need a crutch or cane and then hold onto the bannister
- ... better yet, get a commode for downstairs and have someone empty it for you every day or two.
Understand that stairs are usually the very last thing to master after a TKR. That comes after all the initial pain, PT, more pain, leg strengthening and more pain. Don't expect to be running up and down stairs for many, many moons...and then very slowly. I'd make other arrangements.
Hi I think I'm having bilateral knee replacements how long did you wait after your pre op I've been on the list 18 weeks now and have my pre op on the 22nd June
I agree with Chico. Although I am only a month out from surgery there is definitely no way I could. use the stairs even now. I am still using a walker although at my next pt appt I will start getting used to a cane.
Within the first few weeks there were times that my knee buckled. If I had been going up or down the steps I would have fallen.
In my opinion using the steps right out of surgery is not a good idea. Especially since you need to build up strength in your knee before climbing steps. Better safe than sorry and you don't want to do anything that would compromise the prothesis.
Yes of course you can use stairs, you won't be allowed home until you can. With only one knee done, it's just as easy if not easier than before the surgery, depends how bad you are now.
One step at a time for a while.
With both it will be harder, I wouldn't have had both done together, to be honest.
My doctor told me to go up and down the steps and not to set up camp in the family room. I did have a bathroom on the first floor. There is a portable potty. It's a bit challenging getting on and off the potty for a little while. I would say yes, but have a back-up just in case!
I probably could have managed 2-3 stairs. But I have a friend that recovered so quickly that it was easy for her. So, everyone is different. And, if it was a race to get to the bathroom quickly, forget about it. Lol. That would have been a problem.
I moved to a downstairs guestroom as there is a bathroom and the stairs were very steep so I would have struggled otherwise as my knee has not been a very quick recovery at all.
However, I know some folk have managed to do stairs early on, though you just do not know whether you will be lucky.
Someone I know set up camp upstairs for the first week or two, so they did not have to use stairs for every toilet visit, added a TV and took drinks and food supplies, meds, books, phones, laptop etc. As even if you are managing the stairs, you don't really want to be doing them too much at first.
Your hospital or PT should help you master stairs before you are sent home, if you tell them our situation.
Good luck for the surgery and recovery.
Yes you will be able use the upstairs toilet I did, I don't have one downstairs as long as you take it easy you should be ok my stairs are steepish and I managed....Gokd luck on the knee replacement.
I agree with Chico. You HOPE you can but plan for the worst. Expect the best!
I agree with you Laura. You master stairs before you come out of hospital. T is not a problem if you do a step at a time. It is also a great exercise for your knee
I had both knees done, but at different times, I never had any problem with steps, my knees were really bad before op, so was used to one step at a time. Had been doing it for years.
Yes, but a potty is handy! Good to drink lots of water after major surgery!
I guess it's different in the UK. Can't go home from the hospital unless you can climb stairs? Not here. Started PT at 3-4 weeks...we didn't get to a stair for two months. You have zero quad strength after the operation. Yes, use your good leg and drag the bad one up behind you...that's the only way. To do a stair with the new knee, you need your ROM back so you can bend the knee plus quad, glute and core strength to actually get to the next step without bouncing with the other leg or dragging yourself up with the banister. It takes a lot of time and practice to go up and down stairs "normally".
So...yes, go up to the bathroom and down again one step at a time with your good leg...and HANG ON!!! Doable but not advisable especially when you're groggy on opioids. I'd stay on Floor #1 for a little while.
Stairs with a crutch technique is shown in UK... But potty essential,...would be too tiring to go up the stairs more than once a day in those early weeks! They check you have a hand rail to use also. It is rather an achievement getting up stairs. like climbing a mountain! After a few weeks easier, but again, always with rail and crutch!
Did steps on day two Chico, home after three days. Most houses here don't have downstairs toilets, you have to do steps.
They won't keep you in hospital for social reasons, it's up to you to get on with it
I had enough strength in my other leg to cope with it. Had the pain, yes, bad? Yes. Sometimes you just have to get on with it.
Like you had several surgeries, and the knee's weren't the worst ones, for coping.
If you're proscribed Opioids for pain you proly won't need to go but once a month..
Well...almost true. The two big opioid painkillers are based on hydrocodone (Vicodin, Norco, etc.) and oxycodone (Percocet). Some docs in the UK use cocodomol which is acetaminophen (Tylenol) plus pure codeine. The first two have the same painkilling power but...
"Adverse effect profiles were similar, with the exception of a higher incidence of subsequent constipation with the use of hydrocodone." - US National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health
If you're having problems with constipation, ask your doc to switch from hydro to oxy.
PS: The chemistry of it is that hydrocodone is based on the codeine molecule while oxycodone is based on thebaine. The codeine has good cough suppressing effects but has that higher possibility of constipation.
My knee was definitely the toughest for 30-60 day pain but I could still walk around...walker then cane at first. The hardest was the big L3 through S1 TLIF back fusion. Constant back pain during the rehab...wearing a back brace for four months...CANNOT bend over or do any lifting. Got past that rehab in 4 months instead of six but with my latest L2/L3 LLIF (lateral) fusion, the back is still hard to deal with. At 15 months, the knee doesn't bother me anymore. I was surprised that I can climb 2 steps at a time leading with my new knee...more underlying quad strength than I had thought...without holding onto a banister!!!
YES!!!! There is hope out there, everyone!!!