Posted , 19 users are following.
Hi, I've noticed different stages/phases in my recovery after my knee replacement surgery. The first two weeks were almost unbearable, after that the pain was still there but a little less. At 12 weeks most of my pain was gone and I noticed considerable improvement in strength, bend, etc. What has been your experience as to the different significant stages in your recovery?
2 likes, 84 replies
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davidjk22 Ozziegee
Posted
Stages of recovery are different for everyone , you appear to be doing well . It can be a long process , don't try to rush it . Keep up with physio and bend , and as important straightness will improve . Over 19½ years since my first and 17½ for the other , both have been fine and still are .
mary12001 Ozziegee
Posted
Backwards and forwards
It's is not a straight line recovery
One minute you're fine
Next you're in considerable pain
It's all because it's weight bearing
The healing process is undermined constantly by having to put weight on it.
Eventually though I think you win but not without cost to your general health x
Ozziegee mary12001
Posted
Hi Mary, I know full well about the "up, down" recovery. One step forward, one backward. I have days I'm excited and then the next....... It's a consistent plodding type rehab/recovery, that's for sure.
lowballme Ozziegee
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Hi Ozziegee,
Have obtained 108 degrees of bend but am finding difficulty in straightening my leg out. I'm putting my foot on a rolled up towel and stretching it downward. I do this for 5 to 10 minutes every 2 hours. Very uncomfortable but don't want knee to heal in bent position. Also experiencing bruising in ankle and heel area, hopefully, from drainage down from TKR. Did you have any of these problems?
Ozziegee lowballme
Posted
I'm yet to even get close to 108 degrees with my bend but my leg has always been straight, I'm at 0 with that. Even so I do the same stretch you mentioned daily. I initially had swelling in the ankle area but no bruising.
chris00938 Ozziegee
Posted
Good question Ozzie. It's going to vary for everyone, but no real pain for me - just a mini panic at three weeks when it hurt at the back of the knee with excrutiating pain if I took the bend to maximum, which was 115 at that point, but my physio at the hospital told me that my bend was one in a hundred then so to stop pushing it for a couple of weeks. One week later it was fine. I'd say roughly five weeks I was walking more on it but it still didn't feel quite natural - it was past 8 weeks that it started to feel more natural. Op was done on 1st March and today I went to a shopping centre and walked round for three quarters of an hour, and then went to a large supermarket and did the weekly shop there. Non operated knee is searing with pain, but operated one is fine:-))) Operated one has felt natural walking for a few weeks now. Nothing to remind me it's 'not my knee', apart from the scar. For me personally this has been an op that I got over WAY faster than I expected.
faybubbles chris00938
Posted
My Dr told me to put Bio Oil on my scar and rub deep down in the muscles. My scar is becoming lighter now which I'm so happy about. I bought mine at Walgreen's. Just wanted to give you a pin pointer that I learned and its working. Lucky for you, when you walk your knee feels natural unlike mine feels like I'm walking with metal. My Dr told me maybe a year I may not have that feeling, but dome people always have it. Have a great day!!
Ozziegee chris00938
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Chris, coach nut your blessings, you're one lucky person.
Ozziegee faybubbles
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Ozziegee
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Meant, "count your blessings".
chris00938 faybubbles
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I put emu oil on my scar but only really smoothed it over. To be honest, and I feel feel somewhat stupid saying this, I never really understood what people were talking about when they said 'massage the scar tissue'! I never knew if they meant massage the scar you can see, or if there was some 'unseen' scar somewhere that needed massaging that I never knew about LOL! When you say put the oil on the scar and rub seep down in the muscles - what muscles? My scar isn't anywhere near muscles, apart from a tiny bit at the top? I never really knew where people were getting pain either! I had a tender spot just below the kneecap where it sticks out slightly, and the searing pain that I thought might be impingement at the back when I overdid the bend at three weeks, and a bit of discomfort when I rested the inside of the knee on the bed when I slept on the opposite side of the op in the very early days, but that was it. I STILL don't really know where the pain is that a lot of people are getting and the only tight band I ever felt was where the tourniquet went and that was in the very early days. It went soon after the bruising went.
I hope your knee feels natural soon. I just don't notice mine anymore! Maybe it's the searing pain of the other one distracting me though LOL!
I did cover my scar in factor 50 when I sat in the sun over past days though.
chris00938 Ozziegee
Posted
I know Ozziegee, and I'm hoping I'll be just as lucky with the other one LOL! Even the surgeon said I'd been lucky with the first one LOL!
chris00938 Ozziegee
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Duckfan Ozziegee
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I'm at 14 weeks now and still walk with a cane. Knee still has pain, still stiff and not a great bend. I walk ok but wish I could do it without the cane. I see my doctor in June.
You sound like you're doing really well.
leta99341 Ozziegee
Posted
I'm at 9 wks & I'm in pain almost every min
Of the day & night are almost unbearable!
The main from the TKA is worse than the pain prior to surgery.
Any thoughts!
Thank you!
Ozziegee leta99341
Posted
Yes, I solved my pain problem by using an Asian herb that someone recommended. Don't believe I can mention it here though. I got "flagged" before.
jenny80029 Ozziegee
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Ozziegee jenny80029
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Ozziegee jenny80029
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leta99341 Ozziegee
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The pain is killing me at night @ I need to back to work soon.
Thanks so much!
jenny80029 Ozziegee
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jenny80029 Ozziegee
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I hope you dont need that at this stage...If you do it is time to move on... i think you are a few weeks ahead of me...three months is the generally accepted time for pain relief unless complications involved!👍
chris00938 jenny80029
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I didn't LOL! It's still a mystery to me LOL! I got the name of a flower!
davidjk22 jenny80029
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Ozziegee jenny80029
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Jenny, not sure what you're saying?
jenny80029 Ozziegee
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jenny80029 davidjk22
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