i into 4 weeks recovering yet from knee surgery. Progress is slow, muscle is bad every day, i walk 15 min every hour every day (my 4th day now) i get discouraged every day, it seems progress is too slow. i still can’t bend my knee to a 90 degree angle! night time is the worst, i’m not sleeping well, very uncomfortable. any help is needed
Please don’t get discouraged, it is a very painful surgery, but with excercise, good pain relief and icing, it will get easier, I had my first knee replacement 2 years ago and 2nd knee replaced in June last year. I am so pleased I had them done as I now have my life back. I am currently on holiday in Malaysia, swimming, walking and doing all the things I couldn’t pre op. So don’t despair, hard work does pay off. Have you tried sleeping with a very light pillow between your legs, I found this better at night. Hope some of the above helps. Good luck.
i can’t sleep on my side, i sleep on my back, i have my knee slighted elevated 4” i last 3 hrs in bed, i have to get up from numbness, i can’t get good rest at all. i’m really scared.
i walk every hour with my crutches, with weight on my surgery knee,
night time i’m very tired
im trying but it’s been a daily battle, mentally.
I am just shy of my 6 month mark on my total knee replacement.
I remember the first 4 weeks of my knee surgery where I hurt all the time, And the sleepless nights. I spent the first 4 weeks sleeping in my recliner with my leg elevated. I am like you I sleep on my back most of the time.
Hang in there, I know what your going through it is mentally and physically challenging. Can't sleep at night and exhausted during the day. And can't get more than 2 hours sleep at a time was the pits. For me when I got off my pain meds like oxycodone that was when I actually slept.
Your doing a good job in walking for 15 minutes every hour. Do your exercises with what your doctor or physical therapist recommends. Getting your knee to bend will take time. Your knee is still swollen and tender! Once the swelling starts going down you will be able to start bending the knee more.
In 6 months my knee bend is about 125. I think in my 4 week mark I wasn't quite at 90.
Are you getting physical therapy?
Things will get better it just takes a year or little more for total knee replacement.
Try pitting ice on your knee before bed for some people it helps
thank you, this helps, i live in a remote area, no physical therapist. my physician mentioned sending me out of town to get PT. All this is scary for me, I’m afraid to travel. But i will probably do it, I just get weak at night time. i take 1 oxy just to relax and ice it down. thx again
Hi Lorraine keep going, it really does get better very slowly. You have to be patient (I'm a very inpatient person). I had a Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstruction and some of my meniscus removed in the inside of my left knee last February. I feel your frustration, some days I said to myself I wish I dident have it done and thought is it ever gonna get better. Keep up with what your doing
Anything having to do with the knee is in a special category...and that is: There are no time schedules or expectations. The knee will be better when it's better...no sooner. There is only time, work and patience. These were written with a TKR in mind but could help...
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/trouble-sleeping-post-tkr--539591
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/tkr-and-ptsd-569521
Good luck...
Thank you, this helps, I feel like I’ll never get to walk again, scary. I’ll keep working at it, R.I.C.E! I was wishing I never had it done too but I can hope for the best outcome, it may not be soon but I pray it heals.
I don't have advice for you but I think it's awesome your doing 15 mins that's really great !
Lorraine, I pray you will get well soon it;s tough I know, I had my surgery 3 month} ago (meniscectomy} and still can not walk 25 yards without crutches I have a feeling you will be fine, you sound a fighter, and the advice here is great.
Thank you, I don’t feel like fighter, every day is different, now I slowed down, I feel weak but I keep moving. Every two hours I move from my bed to the couch or my knee gets numb. Thank you for prayers, I really need prayers.
Thank you, every day is different, I have to really work hard, it’s pretty stressful. My heart goes out to any person with disabilities. Once I recover, I want to go out to help people with permanent disabilities. You feel so alone going through this. if I can do one thing for a diababled person, the thought this would uplift one person’s mind is priceless.
If it was TKR then 4 weeks is not a long time to expect much.
I am in my 12th week and still have some problem sleeping
You will have a better night sleep after 6 weeks and then you will begin to feel that you are on the mend
Carry on cold treatment for a few more weeks and if the swelling has subsided significantly than use hot water bottles to get more comfort at night
Have patients and eventually you will get there
Good luck
Dal
I don't have any advice for you Lorraine, but I had lateral partial men surgery in april 2016. At that stage we lived in a remote rural community, with any services being over 100km away so I understand & feel your frustration. I will say county life heals all in the end though x Hang in there & all the best with your recovery x
This seems odd.......
Before my TKR almost two years ago, I had four knee scopes in my 50's, two each side, for torn menisci and ripped off femoral condyle cartilages. I ALL cases, I had the op on a Friday, elevated and iced over the weekend and was back at work on Monday with a portable Cryo-Cuff for a few days. No rehab; complete recovery in a week or two. I've never heard of a meniscus tear repair impacting anyone's range of motion.
Yes, with a TKR, it's a year long recovery, lots of work to get the ROM back to 0 / +120...but a meniscus repair? What exactly did the doc do to you???
PS: If you are actually having ROM issues, these exercises for TKR patients might be helpful...
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/tkr-rom-work-at-home-620053
i was told physio is vial for recovery after meniscus surgery. My ROM was grossly impacted, physio & ortho told me it was very common hence vital regular physio. I was also told that full recovery from my surgery would depend on my healing, resting & physio but 6-8 weeks could be achievable so, with your short recovery phase
& no rehab i'm curious CHICO MARX, did any of your previous four knee injuries contribute to the TKR?
Forty-five years of playing hockey totally caused everything. Four knee scopes, a TKR, a metal right hip plus four spine surgeries (two fusions) and two shoulder impingements. See the picture. I'm the TSA's worst nightmare at the airport. They're turning me into a Terminator!!!
Yes, the four knee scopes removed a lot of cartilage and left me with a bone-on-bone situation plus growing arthritis...which, like rust, never sleeps. This was in my early to mid-50's. As it got worse, the doc started the Synvisc injections; a set of 3 over 15 days kept me completely pain free for up to a year at a time for over 5 years. In 2010, I moved from cold New Jersey to very warm Texas. To my surprise, I needed zero shots for the next five years. Then the pain started to return and my only option was a TKR in March of '16.
For those four knee scopes, I needed absolutely nothing in terms of rehab or a long recovery. I was back to work in a matter of days, iced for a few more and that was it. Even got back on my skates with no problem. Maybe I'm the odd one...after all those years skating and playing hockey, I have incredibly strong legs and a ton of muscle memory...even now at 70. Maybe that's what did it for me. My PT was stunned a while back that at 14-months post-TKR, I was climbing stairs two at a time with ease. I could very well be the outlier on the statistical table but that's what happened to me. PS: I also rehabbed the hip in six weeks instead of six months and two shoulder impingement scopes in three weeks each. I guess I'm a rehab freak and take it uber-seriously. The problem is that you can push hips and shoulders while knees are in a league of their own. A TKR takes a year...period. No one can rush that.