I am 8 weeks Post Op and wondered how you were all getting on!!
I am pleased wit my progress other than having what is commonly know as a Bursea behind my Knee, this is causing me pain on bending but mainly through the night.
I am achieving a 140 bend, can walk properly up a full set of stairs going up, but still coming down with both feet on 1 step and need to work on this.
Physio have now reduced my visits to monthly and the consultant is really happy with the 'end' result, albeit i do have to go back in 6 weeks to check the Bursea. i have been told this may be drained or surgically removed if it doesnt go down on its own accord!!
The on going issues i have is through the night i do have pain that keeps me awake and i rarely get a full nights sleep.
For all of you out there who have either just had the Operation or are due too i can only advise to be patient, the pain and disability gets better in my opinion after about 4 weeks, each day after this i found so much improvement, i am back driving, dont use any sticks at all now, and can walk quite a distance, i still have a slight limp when walking and am working hard on 'marching' when i walk advised by physio, apparently if i concentrate on swinging my arms when walking it makes me walk straight without a limp. I am still off work and dont imagine going back for a further 6 weeks. I use an static bike twice daily and try and beat my time each day, this is helping with my muscle wastage.
I could never imagine i would feel this way 4 weeks ago but now i am doing so well i know its been worth it. My scar looks good and is just a thin line although its a bit purple looking, i still have swelling on the knee but not much, and my Knee does look a funny shape!!
I hope you are all doing good and that my experiance helps you with your recovery.
i am due to have a right knee replacement in approx 2 months time. I have only just found this site and it was good to read your post as you sound like you are doing really well!.
can I ask you a question? When you came home from hospital was you able to get up the stairs? I have a downstairs bathroom and I am worried I won't be able to use the stairs to get to bed? I don't really want to have to sleep on the settee?
When i was 1st discharged i made sure someone walked behind me going up and in front coming down.
Physo on your ward will teach you how to use stairs using your sticks . No need to sleep on sofa promise .
Like you i also have loo downstairs which was a god send only using stairs at bedtime .
I found this site straight after my operation and got so much information from people in our position . Im happy to help with any fears you have no matter how little they are to you they will
I too, am 8 weeks post op. It's good to hear how others are going. I felt the pain level dropped at 6 weeks and I was then able to do the bending exercises but I did need to medicate for nerve trauma. I was driving at 5 weeks and back at work at 7 weeks. I limp, but only because my new leg is longer than the old but this will be fixed when I get the other TKR in October. The only thing That I find annoying is the tightness around my knee not the joint just the flesh so I massage it daily to get rid of scar tissue inside. It is stiff on waking but soon loosens up. I still ice a few times a day and I do the exercise bike daily. Stairs upand down are fine but I wouldn't say that I run up ad down they tell me the tightness and stiffness will go but may take a year. That's ok as long as it goes. I walk everywhere now and actually behave exactly as I did before so I guess I am pleased with the progress. I'm glad you arepingwell aso.
Thank you pegs girl!! It was so good to hear your answer. That was the main thing I was worrying about!! I feel so much better now.
i have only just joined this site and you are the 1st person I have asked a question. I think this site will be very helpful to me now and after my operation. Hope you continue to make a good recovery!!!
Its a great site i have had many a question answered on here and was do glad i too found it. You can read as much as you like on TKR but the best answers are from those who have gone through it. It will be hard at 1st but first but it gets easier i promise . Good luck with your operation and take care.
Thats great! I am 7 weeks opst op. I think I am doing ok. Not using the stick all the time. Still a lot of pain and discomfort at night but thats ok. My knee is still swollen and very hard . Not much happening on the bend still about 100 but I had a set back with the wound so had to lay off physio for a while. I must say though I am feeling a lot better walking wise. I'm back at driving so thats a plus. I am plodding onward and upward, thats all I can ask for. It will improve over time.
Well done Kim keep up with your exercises thus will help. If its any consolation i gave van to my GO tonight to see if he could give me anything for the night pain. He has prescribed a slow releasing pill that should last 12 hours. Hopefully this will help my sleep.
Your right keep plodding on thats what i do i don't know about you but i still have fearful days but they are less often now.
Hope you having better weather in Sydney than here in UK!!
Pegs girl what a good idea. I wouldn't describe what I get at night as a pain but is an extreme annoyance whatever it is so I usually medicate but getting a slow release is a thought. It's what I used to have for the first 6 weeks and helped a lot so I may ask again. Kim I'm finding it gets easier every week so I look forward to the next Tuesday cheers to all from Perth West Oz btw. We are global!
I must say that I am not fearful of facing my other TKR now despite the fact that it was one of the most painful procedures. The bad pain lasts 2 weeks, but u can be heavily medicated and if I accept that I'm just going to lie around and recover during that time, I can put up with it. The other thing I have learnt is t listen to my body. The experts will tell you to push etc but I found that I pushed until my body told me to stop and I still recovered in a timely way. So doing exercises your wn way as long as you do them is ok. Also there will prob always be some negatives, like the tightness in my knee for example but it's better than it was so I get on with it but still treat myself with care when I need to. Bring it n!
My doctor also gave me some slow release Meds. Tramal or Tramadol. I had been taking Endone initially but the Tramal seems to be working but only when I need it. I do have some rotten days but I do feel better than what I did before I had the op. 10 Years ago when I was 48, I had a partial knee replacement so this op was a bit different in that it had to be removed and replaced. So I can't really complain. I see my surgeon on Wednesday and he will let me know when I can start hydrotherapy. At leaset I am progressing.
Hi again, the weather has been great. 25 degrees here today so I have been sitting around the pool sunbathing, well sitting in the sun getting some rays to my scar. They say the sunlight helps lol
Hi, I had my TKR 8 weeks ago as well, although my bend is only 110. Physio have "written me off" after 3 sessions saying once I am back to work and being more active things will improve. I start back in my office next week so we will see. You are very lucky that physio are still seeing you, your scar sounds a good deal better than mine too, mine is still purple and quite wide in spite of using Bio Oil on it twice a day. Knee is now only just over an inch bigger than the other one, althugh I do have a quite pronounced bone bruise on the outside the operated knee, very painful, althoughI agree, a few weeks ago I would never have imagined things had improved so much although I feel I have a long way to go yet. On a plus point I no longer get arthritis pain in the knee, something which was dreadful, particularly when it is cold or raining.
Hi Susan. I guess what the different posts prove is that everybody heals in their own way and in their own time. Each patient has their own set of probs in recovering. But it sounds like we are going to get there.i still have swelling and numbness around the knee but I ride the ex bike , do the od stretching exercises and massage the knee to reduce swelling which I think causes the tightness I dislike so much. I aso went to GP to get another lot of Tremadol for night sleeps. The good thing about getting back to work is that it actually gets your mind off the knee. Up to 6 weeks the knee was the sin th
Up to 6 weeks the knee totally dominated my every move, work enabled a change. I'm glad you don't get the arthritis and yes I agree the knee feels solid without the old pain. Well done us!
Just read your initial post. So pleased to hear that things start to improve after 4 weeks. I am 4 weeks, plus 1 day after op and things seem to have reached a plateau for the past few days. Bend still not great (just under 80) but working hard on physio and feel the swelling is holding me back. Find walking a trial as my other knee also needs a tkr. Not yet though, this whole thing has been far more traumatic than I ever dreamed.
The 'tight band' feeling is unpleasant and each morning the knee is so stiff, I feel I'm back to square 1. So frustrating. And don't get me started on these pigging stockings. Still 2 weeks to go.
Any ideas on how to increase the bend? Doing all the usual exercises.
Hi pegs girl, I am new to this forum, but certainly not knew to having a TKR done.
I had Bilateral TKR done approx. 2 years ago, after having put up with walking bone on bone for about 6 years prior to the op. Why wait so long? Because I am a big woman, tall, around 120 kgs, and have a few other genetic health issues that I thought may have put the surgeons off wanting to do such a major op. I knew several people who had had great success with TKR (one at a time in their cases) and I chose a surgeon and went for a consult. He was happy to take me on, as although I'm big, I'm strong and have great stamina.
The Bilateral TKR went very well, and I was home after 5 days in hospital, and continued my recovery with lots of physio exercises, use of ice to reduce swelling, and persistance. Pain was managed by slow release Tramadol. At the 6 week review I was showing great Range of Motion (ROM) and physio was concentrating on strengthening from there on, as the ROM increased weekly. 6 Months review showed everything was on track and I had the x-rays to show things were going well. The patella on the left was in the correct position, the one on the right, just off perfect position, but nothing to worry about....But, at the 12 mth review, something had gone wrong. I was walking on torn ligaments and the right patella had dislocated and was way off to the outer part of the knee. How was I walking? Because I have a very high pain threshold, and to me, I just thought the right leg was taking longer to heal.
The left knee was still perfect. A Patello-Femoral Ligament Repair was scheduled promptly and done in Sept 2013, and that seemed to be going well too, until the 12 week review showed it too had broken down, and the ligament was torn again, and the patella was dislocated, again. It was now too close to Christmas, (I have a business that is total madness over the 'Silly Season' ) and so the second repair was scheduled for mid January. So the repair was done again, but this time not using my own hamstring as the ligament, but an artificial graft instead, which should have been bullet proof, so to speak! However, this time about 3 weeks into recovery my wound became infected, and I was in a straight leg locked brace for several weeks whilst taking antibiotics to kill the infection. No physio beyond flexing the muscles was allowed. Finally, the wound healed, and I was sent to the usual physio who had been dealing with me over the entire knee replacement saga. One of the genetic issues I hinted at earlier is a blood clotting problem which is treated by taking Warfarin, and having regular blood tests to check my INR (clotting time in layman's and after each operation it can take a few weeks to stabilise the INR. At the first session of physio, my INR was too high, which meant I could bleed internally very easily, so I said to him to take things very slowly and carefully. Well, the result was evident the next morning when I nearly passed out with a rush of pain when I stood. When I checked the knee, it was 16cms larger than it had ever been! I had bled into the joint, and had a massive haemotoma. The surgeon tried to get it aspirated by ultrasound guidance etc, but to no avail, it was too clotted, and the result was, back in the straight leg knee brace for another 4 weeks until mother nature had taken her course and the warfarin etc had lessened the swelling. Then, when I was told to go ahead with physio again? I chose to go to my own physio. It became obvious a few weeks later after that things were not as they should be and x rays showed that the second repair had failed too! It was decided that the first TKR joint would be removed and a totally different one, with metal spikes going into the bones of the upper and lower leg for quite some distance, would be used. It was hoped that when the surgeon got into the knee he would be able to decide whether the ligaments would be reattached, or whether the implant would be one which they call The Hinge, because it doesnt need the ligaments etc to work properly. Fortunately, when he did the op, he used the one with the ligaments, but did comment afterwards that the damaged repair showed the ligaments had stretched. Neither of us could work that out at the time, but since, I realised when looking at the x Ray done when I had the haemotoma, the swelling in the joint at that point clearly shows the patella was forced away from the knee joint by some 5cms!! No wonder the ligaments had stretched! So, I am now 8 weeks post the last op and feeling that this should hopefully be the last time this knee has to be operated on. It feels more stable, it's still painful, but it has had a mighty lot of work done on it. The ROM is 118 and will continue to increase. I'm doing mainly strengthening exercises, for the knee and hip on both sides as the left knee has had to do so much extra work whilst the right has been out of action, but it is actually not quite as strong muscle-wise and fatigues during the exercises more quickly, so I'm trying to balance that. I am still taking painkillers, but have come off the stronger ones. Sitting at a desk is painful after about three quarters of an hour, and swelling occurs. Walking without a stick, limpy because I have to concentrate harder on each step, and my muscle memory to not limp is still feeble! After all, I've been limping for 8 years now!! The other thing I shall have to sort, are the orthotics in my shoes, as I'm now back to my original full height, and having one leg longer than the other, I am noticing that imbalance when standing, as the weight is definitely not evenly spread. I'm currently experimenting with bits of orthotic felt in my left shoe under the orthotic to raise the height so that the left leg feels as long as the right. Once that's sorted it may also help me to improve my gait.
If I had known the drama and pain I have dealt with over the last two years, would I have still been willing to have the Bilateral TKR? Absolutely! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and feel that the outcome will be well worth it.....
I am into my 3rd week of total knee replacement. I like you had a great worry about the stairs as I also have balance problem. I thought about a reconditioned stairlift phoned Albion strairlifts agreed a sale after a home vist stairlift fitted almost immediately absolutely super . Slim line looks brand new and fitted with a years warranty. To say it has been a god send would be putting it mildly. I can go up and down stairs as and when I please.the cost £595. Iwill get round to useing the stairs as and when I wish I am an 82 year old widow. And I live alone.it is so important to have the stress of stairs taken from you. I fretted about it for weeks but it was so easily solved. Best of luck with the op. I am already walking around the house without any aids. So am well on the road to recovery, hope this helps