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Anyone used a JAS brace for increasing knee bend?

Posted , 4 users are following.

joansgarden
joansgarden

I saw my surgeon a few days ago for a 5 week follow-up and he was not willing to do a manipulation on my knee yet. Said it would bleed at this stage and cause mor scarring, so need to wait for the 12 week stage. In the meantime he's hopeful I can still get the bend without manipulation. It's been at 85 for about 3 weeks now. So, he upped my pain pills again, and has precribed a JAS brace, which I can't get until it is approved by Medicare, and that may take 3 weeks!  Apparently this brace bends your knee for you but at a much lower pain level and a much slower speed than the physio uses. You use it 3 times/day for 30 mins. The reviews on the JAS website are great but that's to be expected. Just wondered if anyone on this forum had tried one?

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • betty07083
    betty07083 joansgarden

    Posted

    Hi Joan,

    I've never heard of the JAS brace, but it sounds like a good thing for help with your bend. I would certainly try it if my dr recommended it.

    Did they use the CPM machine on you when you were in the hospital? Medicare will cover that for home use as well, if your dr felt you needed it. It was used on me every day, 2 hrs a day, while in the hospital, but fortunately it was not needed when I got home. I'm curious too, did you have a PT come to your home for the first 2 weeks? Mine came the very next day, for 2 weeks, before I started outside PT. I think she gets the credit for getting my knee to bend so quickly.

    On another, "non TKR note 😁 how is the weather in your beautiful part of the country? I have a cousin in Bend & a good friend has a son in Ashland, where I want to live 😁 but to far from my daughters, which as I get older, I feel better being so close to them.

    But good luck with the JAS brace. I will be anxious to hear how it works for you!

    Betty

    • joansgarden
      joansgarden betty07083

      Posted

      They didn't use the CPM machine and no PT home visits. My first PT was 2 weeks post-op. I think it would have helped immensely if I had known how important that bend was during that time.

      We are getting lots of rain, although it might possibly be snow up at Bend. It has been a very warm winter so far - by that I mean we have not had below 18, whereas last year we were at -25 at about this time. We have a weekend cottage over in Phoenix which is just 7 miles from Ashland and is where I am right now. My husband plays music in Ashland every weekend - mostly Irish and contra dance - though this morning is is out at a gig singing at a coffee shop in Talent.

    • betty07083
      betty07083 joansgarden

      Posted

      Hi Joan, well I am very surprised they did not use the CPM on you in the hospital as I thought it was very prominent here in the U.S. It sure is here, in California! Also, having a PT come to your home as soon after being released from the hospital was pretty much a "given". Huh! That really does surprise me. 

      You certainly would have benefitted from the home PT early on. I really credit mine for my good bend and really stressing the importance of doing those exercises every day, even when she's not here. 

      I had to laugh though at your comment about feeling gypped you did not experience the euphoria from the oxycodone you thought you might. I was also on oxycodone and I wondered the same thing! It would have been nice to get a little "high" from it if we have to take it, ha

      Betty

  • britta217
    britta217 joansgarden

    Posted

    hi joan --- never heard of it before now.  i just went on their website, looks like quite a contraption!  but who cares, as long as you get the bend.  i noticed it promises a 160 degree bend!  160 ... i don't even know what that looks like!  but you go for it, anything that can help needs to be tried.  

    by the way, joan, are you on lyrica?  that really helped me even if it did make my mind a bit fuzzy for a while.  the day after i started taking it, it bent 10 extra degrees.  i am trying to reduce everything at the moment but am really struggling.

    i hope medicate comes up trumps and your bend increases dramatically!

    • joansgarden
      joansgarden britta217

      Posted

      Britta I had never heard of lyrica until you mentioned it in one of your other posts. My doctor put me on a 3 week course of prednisone along with oxycodone. I feel quite gypped because I have had none of the euphoria promised by oxycodone, but I do feel more optomistic so maybe that's the best it's going to do for me. It's nice to even feel that way after being depressed for 5 weeks. As for the pain - I think it's helped a little. I know it's going to be horrible getting off all this stuff. I'm not one for taking drugs.

      Good wishes coming your way that you are able to get off the medications AND keep your bend.

      I used to be able to bend my kneees so that my calf was pressed up hard against my thigh and sit cross-legged in every chair. Miss those days....

    • britta217
      britta217 joansgarden

      Posted

      haha! i know what you mean. i observe people doing things - mundane to them! - and i find myself thinking "gosh, i used to be able to do that, but never again ..." quite sobering, i agree. but i was never comfortably able to sit cross-legged. my knee problems were a problem since childhood so certain movements were always a no-no. i can remember going to a special fitness class a couple of years back (was it really so recently) and the teacher making fun of me as the pain was so intense kneeling. ha! if she could see me now she would understand.

      prednisone is a steroid if i am informed correctly. my mum has to keep going on them as she has crohn's disease and it helps with the inflammation. hope you don't have to be on that too long, my mum attributes her weight gain to them, as helpful as they are. still, if your mood has lifted, that's a bonus for christmas.

      joan, you are doing your very best and that is fantastic. keep at it and if all else fails, you will have it mobilized. and then for SURE get the CPM sorted out. i am hooked on mine, even hopped on this morning for 15 minutes just to get the stiffness out of my knee.

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