I'm 10 weeks post op TKR, have had 24 physical therapy sessions, a 127 bend, leg extention is not good and still no quad response. Therapist said they can't do any more for me to get response from quads. Had surgeon appt. today (he did not cut into any of my muscles during surgery) said he's only had one other patient with symtoms like mine and it could be nerve damage from the tourniquet, I go back in a few weeks and may have to have a nerve test done. Keeping my fingers crossed my quads are just extremley slow in recovering.
Sorry your having a tough time, PattyLee. I know what a tourniquet is by how/why is it used in knee surgery?
Hope your problem is solved very soon.
Margaret, The tourniquet is applied to your upper thigh during surgery to keep blood from flowing into the knee area.
Thanks Patty, that makes complete sense. 
Mine didnt kick in until 13 weeks after I did 2 full weeks of hourly exercises just for quads at home and now they are amazing. Just need to bulk them up. The exercise I did was brace down as far as I could with knee over the gap between the footstool and chair and lift leg straight. Also just kept bracing knee backwards even when standing making tea or whatever. Sometimes put rolled up towel under calf and braced. Suddenly my quads jumped - but even now it takes abot 10 braces to get them going and then I do about 50 until they are tired and stop working again. Good luck.
127 bend at 10 weeks is certainly better than I was PattyLee it is not all bad. I had TKR 3 years ago. My extension was always quite good it was the bend I really struggled with.
Hope they are able to sort this out.
Take care and keep in touch
Praying for you
Love Sarah xxx
I'm hoping my quads will start jumping soon!
I sure don't want to have the nerve test, I heard it's some what painful,
T/Y for the prays Sarah
Patty
Patty your lucky in a way we have no physio offered after our op im 11 weeks I havent a clue what my bends or anything are??? im not driving yet and heaven nos when il get back to work???? My cons didnt measure anything he just asked me to bend my leg then flex it said well done il see you in 10 months? ??? My quad muscle's have nearly dissappeared in fact I showed my son my leg tonight and he nearly weed laughing I swear to god a cocktail stick is thicker???? So I just keep on doing what im doing and hope for the best!!!! Rubbish really but hey ho!!!!
Anything you can do to stimulate or support the thigh muscles might help - massage, exercise, tens machine, acupuncture, alternating hot/cold compresses, arnica cream, plus good nutritious food and plenty of fluids. All the muscles and tendons take a big hit after a tkr whether they are directly cut or not. I gather the whole leg gets traumatised one way or another, very much including the nerves, which take a while to heal. Hope you recover soon and well!
hi patty lee
think we have responded before, but my quads are in total shutdown after 2 years since my op!!!! noone will accept responsibility but i canot do a straight leg raise at all.many different opinions concerning nerve damage etc...so frustrated...please let us know how you get on .xx
No therapy?? I went to an in-patient rehab for a week after my surgery, can't imagine not having therapy and doing this on my own. Are you doing any exercises on your own? I've just started riding my bike, my Dr said that's better for the quads then walking. Bless us all!!
I've tried everything you mentioned but I hadn't thought about acupuncture. It's def worth a try, thanks!
my ex has just kindly lent me a static bike. I tried yest and couldn't do a full rotation of the peddles my knee was sooooo stiff . Eventually I managed to get going but I could only do 5 turns lol I was wacked!!!! Guess I wont be wearing shorts if the sun ever comes out lol.
Yes, I think we talked about the stimulation/tens machine. I can imagine how frustrating it is!
yes tess someone told me to up my protein intake? ???
My therapist were surprised that I had no problem doing full rotations on the static bike with no problem.
Worth a try! Have some experience here as an acupuncturist of many years standing, but now fully retired. It can in some cases help a deal. Good luck!
yehhhh well done il get there hopefully!!!!
Can't be bad so long as plenty if other goodies of fruit and veg! Bon appetite!