I get pain in my shin and outer calf. Also my ankle.It is worse than the actual knee. this is in my right leg, TKRCno. 2 which was done on OCT 21st. 4 weeks ago. Knee no. 1 is doing fine, only a bit of stiffness and accasional ache. The hamstring in that leg was cramping but I fixed that with magnesium. I did walk 1 km today, I find walking helps stiffness and makes me feel better mentally. any tips
to get rid of the shin pain???
I suspect you may have been favoring the leg and walking with a limp or at least not going with a full stride. Now you are walking correctly and all of the muscles/nerves are resetting themselves and its putting a strain on the entire leg. As you know, excercise, ice and time are your biggest allies.
That makes sense Oldfatguy.(I feel so disrespectful saying that!!
. I had knee no. 1 done 8 weeks ago so for 4 weeks I eoukd have been heavily favouring knee no. 2. I have been pushing the rehab a bit too. The ice has been well used!
Ha ha, that's cute Sandra, but I feel the same way calling him old fat guy too
Anyway, it was interesting hearing you have pain in your shin & ankle too because that's exactly where I'm having pain ( same leg as TKR) and it IS worse than the TKR pain at times. What scares me though is that I'm way ahead of you (16 1/2 weeks) and don't know why the pain is starting now!
I suspect the foot & ankle pain ( in my case) is arthritis but I'm hoping the shin pain is due to what old fat guy said and will eventually go away.
You are a brave person having both done so close in time. You are still in early stages but it sounds like you are progressing well despite the shin & ankle pain.
Good luck on your journey!
Don't worry.....it all started a few years back when friends would ask how I was doing I would reply "just a steady 20....$20 short, 20 years to old, 20 lbs to heavy" . one of th decided I was an old fat guy
hi sandra ... this is very interesting! i honestly thought i was the only one with these symptoms. i don't have shin pains, but it starts on the side of the knee, on the top of the fibula (next to the tibia), runs all the way down my calf and then over the top of my foot. it is like an ache, like a pulling, but it can be very painful. i have had this since the day of the operation, it drove me to distraction. it use to be constant and has slowly, slowly decreased over the weeks.
i find massaging my calf helps (quite vigorously), sometimes with tiger balm, or getting on the bendy machine, so exercising, really helps. but i also think it is the nerves and soft tissue settling in. or i hope! in any case, it takes patience.
I dont remember having this pain with knee no 1 which is why I think it is what oldfatguy says. I noticed it as soon as the spinal wore off with knee no 2. It is not an exaggeration to say it was agony in the first week. I was taking a LOT if painkillers that only partly worked. I was also glad that the staff in the hospital remembered how well I did with knee no. 1 or they would have thought I was putting it on. It eases with painkillers now, but it comes back before painkillers are due again. I am going to hsve a rest day today, lots of icing, and just a few gentle bends, leg raises and short walks. See if that helps.
Hi Sandra, do you get the pain when you're resting or just when you're walking? I'm suffering from pain at the back of the leg down the calf but mine is really only when i walk. Mine doesn't seem to have improved in the last month - I'm 17 weeks post op now - so it's very frustrating. I've been told it's muscle weakness as my leg was so bent before the op so maybe that's the case with you too. I keep doing exercises to strengthen the muscles but progress is very slow!
Mine is when I am resting. I feel fantastic when I walk. No pain, and all the stiffness goes. Just feels a bit tight. And it's really good to get out of the house. Of course then I overdo it.....yada yada.....
Isn't it strange how we're all different? I've just been out to the shops again and decided to stride out and walk through the pain, telling myself I was building up muscle. I still got the pain but I wasn't as miserable as I was yesterday 😊 I suppose we both need to pace ourselves in our different ways but it's hard when you want to be back to normal isn't it? Hope your restful day has helped you.
I just feel so much better while I am walking. But I can't sleep at night. I've decided it's just that I can't get comfortable on my back do lie on my side with pillows but the knees twist and HURT. Nothing to to with walking.I agree, it us really hard wanting to be normal and nor being normal. I am not patient and dn going a bit crazy.
Hello Betty
i too have the pain in my calf and ankle and suddenly my knee seems to have stiffened up again I'm 10 weeks post op
but what old fat guy says definitely makes sense
Jean
Mine is when I'm resting too mainly during the night
I find myself getting out of bed and walking round to ease it ....but I've also developed sciatica in the TKR knee
Hi all, what old fat guy says always makes a lot of sense 😊 . I know I've harped on about the pain in the back of my thigh and calf for ages. I'm sure that's caused by the nerves and muscles realigning now I've got a straight leg. It was bent for ages before the op. I've decided to stride out and walk through the pain yesterday and today and it seems to have worked. This afternoon things seemed a lot looser. I suppose it is better to keep moving as much as possible and maybe I was holding myself tense because it was painful. I hope it's a sign things are improving anyway. Jen (17 weeks today)
I know this post is from a year ago but hopefully someone is still following it. I had a TKR 2 weeks ago today. I was doing pretty well in the hospital but last Thursday the outside of my calf muscle became very painful. The pain starts at the back of my knee (like it was hyperextended) down the side of my calf and half way around my ankle. I cannot stand to walk on it now. The pain pills only dull the pain for an hour or so. If I get up to go out in the kitchen or to the bathroom the excruciating pain starts up again. I took my pills 20 minutes ago and my leg is still throbbing. I don't know what to do I cannot bare this pain. I have in home therapy tomorrow and then I am going to start outpatient therapy Monday. I hope they can come up with a solution because I told the doctor I was ready to go back to work and he signed the papers for next Tuesday. I thought the pain that started last Thursday was going to subside... I don't think it is. I run a mailroom I need to work on my feet...I am so disgusted I had my other knee done about 9 years ago and did not go through this much pain. I guess I just needed to vent thank you all for listening... if anyone is still on the thread that is. 
Hi there. You are only two weeks out you say so maybe you are expecting too much too soon to get back to work, especially for a standing job?
I have had some bad aching pain in the back of my calf and burning pain on my shin on and off. Some days better than others and much worse at night. It's gradually improving but I just need to be patient. I am three weeks since op and although I wouldn't say it's gone, it is less painful than a week ago except when I overdo it. Overdo it in my case means either too many exercises or sitting too long with my leg in one position. Either way it swells up during the day and hurts more at night! Having said that I am more mobile each day. Persevere with the exercises as I find that takes the edge off the pain. Good luck!
Knees and fingerprints ......everyone is different and healing is at a different pace. Over the years and having undergone numerous complete rehabs I have gotten to know over 2 dozen people who have undergone tkrs on both knees. So far I have never met anyone who claims both the same except for one lady who had trouble with both. I think you Are expecting too much too soon. Just keep up the exercises and get plenty of rest. Don't push beyond normal pain. Keep in mind this is a process and you can't whip it just because you try and will yourself into recovery. Back off the excercises for a day or two and increase the icing
I don't know if anyone is still looking at this post but part of my pain stemmed from getting a baker's cyst behind the replacement knee and took a couple of weeks to subside, but after that was when I started with the sharp and aching pain in the front of my shin which is even tender to the touch. The back of my calf started hurting too and I noticed pain to stand had started. I was very bruised in my calf and front of legs and thigh from surgery from tourniquit used to minimize blood flow, but the bruising had cleared up. I noticed not all drs. use the tourniquit method. I tried both heat and ice on the shin but it seemed to irritate it to the touch from both. Since some of the posts are older I was wondering if some of your pains have stopped yet. I am 4 1/2 weeks post op on right knee and am tired of not being able to get sleep at night. I do massage lightly sometimes as well.
Hi there
I am now three months in and have had almost no pain since about seven weeks in.
I found the night time pain suddenly improved significantly and I could sleep through from about six weeks in. I started to massage the scar with some cream at around six weeks in and although it was a bit sensitive at first it really increased my mobility once the sensitivity decreased and I massaged it more firmly. By the way the thought of massaging my knee at four weeks in would have freaked me out so don't worry if you can't imagine doing this at the moment.
Thank you, I guess i was getting anxious about the pain and luckily when I went to physical theraphy today the sessions were very gentle and I did not experience as much pain afterwards and there did seem to be a little less sensitivity. I'm still very irritated by materials touching my knee but will give it more time and realize that I have a way to go.