Worried about knee manipulation after total knee replacement?

Bones, joints and muscles
1

I just had a manipulation on fri 4/7/17. It took all of about 30 min. I was at the hospital at 10am and I was home by 2 pm. I walked up my steps when I returned home. ( I live in a raised Beach house).

I started to have pain that evening in my upper thigh.

I went to sleep and woke up to pain still in my upper thigh. The pain wasn't more intense than the previous night. At about noon, I went to the gym and did aprox 30 min on the excercise bike. I was able to bend my knee enough to make it all the way around.

I then went and got in the pool and treded water for about 45 min doing bicycle kicking. I returned home to ice my knee. I was sore, but not too bad.

That night my wife and I went to a concert at the house of blues in Myrtle Beach SC. I did a good amount of walking and climbing stairs. I had a seat which helped me get through the concert.

The next day, Sunday, I sat around and iced my knee and did a little house work. I was sore in my thigh area. Not too bad though.

Monday I went to work then had physical therapy at 2 pm. I was a little stiff from work. The therapist measured my range as soon as I got to the office. It was 85 degrees with no problem. After therapy and warming up I reached 110 degrees without much problem or pain.

Prior to the surgery I had a max bend range of 90 degrees. I had my manipulation 8 weeks( to the day ) after my total knee replacement. I am a very active adult age 45.

If anyone has any concerns or is worried about a manipulation, don't be. You have already gone through the hard part. The pain from the manipulation was cake. I really didn't even have pain in my knee. The pain I had was in my thigh.

Go ahead , don't worry. Do it, so you can bend it.

I am 3 days out from manipulation and I can barely tell I had it done.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Clay

2

Glad you are happy with the result. A great "good news" post! All the best.

3

Lovely to hear your positive news!

4

I am 6 weeks out from my knee replacement surgery.  Met with my surgeon and physical therapist today and they are discussing if I am a candidate for the manipulation.  Trying to stay positive, but worried.  If I couldn't get the range of motion on my own the first time, will this work for me?

5

Clay - I am glad that you were able to have a manipulation at 8 weeks. When the doctor told me that I needed one I was one week shy of 4 months. If I had adhesions they were already formed. So I opted not to have the manipulation because after 3 months it usually doesn't work. Plus you are a very young person for knee replacement. Age has to do a lot with it. J22370

6

This is unusual ... what is your ROM?

7

I can get about 95 on my own and about 106 with PT helping.  But, the doctor called me and decided to not do this manipulation.  He is going to give me some kind of injection.

8

I was 103 with tears welling in my eyes when my physio forced my knee then two weeks later I was 125! I think just working at it yourself to the point of a tight pull, holding for as long as possible and repeating throughout the day helped me. On the sofa watching tv with leg in the air almost doing a pumping like action did it for me ... it just seemed more natural than any other position. 

My consultant told me that my knee is capable of a 135 so that's what I'm aiming for plus a bit more 😊

9

What do you mean by manipulation? I'm 2 months out from tka I'm doing ok, wasn't able to do the pt exactly as recommended but I did exercises at home. I'm still swollen and the knee is hot which I was told was normal. Does everyone do a manipulation?

10

Oh well done Clay!

It's good to get a positive post esp about the dreaded MUA.

Marilyn

XX

11

No manual manipulation is quite rare so my consultant told me so don't worry just concentrate on your ROM 

12

Ty for letting me know, I never heard of this.

13

I am so glad I found your post I was so worried I am getting a manipulation done on May 4 2017 and reading this has put me at ease.

14

This helps me out a lot! I had a total knee replacement on July 12th. This is August 5th and I am really struggling with range of motion. I do my exercises at home and I also go to Physical Therapy. Physical Therapy is very aggressive and painful that it puts me in tears. The Therapy keeps telling me that I have got to go through and keep doing the Therapy so that I don't have to have a manipulation and basically has me terrified of having to have one and says I will have to go to therapy 5times a week for 2 weeks to keep the range of motion after. I'm not sure how true that is but I am really trying hard at home to bend my knee as much as I can no matter how painful so that I don't have to go through such pain at therapy!! This surgery and recovery is the worst thing I have ever been through!!! 

15

Wish me luck, tomorrow is my double manipulation . Your post made me feel it will be worth it. I had first TKR in July, and 2nd in March of this year. Both lost ROM after faithfully doing the PT. I am still stiff and in quite a bit of pain when walking or standing too long. Hopeful