Discouraged after partial knee replacement 11 days ago

I haven't been thinking of my " poor knee" only poor me

You are right . It's just so difficult coming from a place of being very very active . I do know patience is a virtue , now I need to live it out .

Wonderful advice . This is all helping so much .

Debbie

Did go back on pain meds in morning and night . I can't imagine 5 rehabs . You certainly know what works . Thank you again it is very helpful . Debbie

Keep posting and get some help if you believe there's something wrong. Have a great day!

Thank you for writing . Just so helpful . Your last paragraph hits the mark ! Everyone , Doctor, nurse are so nachulant about it . It just boggles my mind how they could be. I had one visit at week one than it would have been another 6 weeks . I insisted I come back in two more .

I'm not sure what you meant about your PT. Are you saying they didn't recommend any and then you did your own . I will look up the you tube videos as someone else suggested same . I am planning on calling today and setting up PT visits myself , paying for myself . I like the idea about the sports message therapist . I'm not sure if we have those here ( US) but will investigate.

How long did your pain last on the opposite side of knee and what did it feel like ? I feel it won't ever go away . I limp because of it , well and the swelling too I suppose .It is only when I step on it . I am taking everyone's advice and resting a lot and continuing ice and elevating more often .

As for work the nurse who works close with the Surgeon said after 3 weeks I could return to work . So I planned for that . The doctor did say I might not feel well enough at that point . Ugh ! Just maddening about the unrealistic expectations I was given . I do a lot of up and down in a chair and light walking so I don't know . Some work I can do from home but need to get back into office Sooner than later . Sounds like it's going to be later . I don't want any set backs .

I so appreciate hearing from those that have had partials. Thank you so much . I thought I was all alone .With each post I read I feel stronger and more encouraged and actually think I do see a light at the end of the long tunnel . We need to have hope to get through this .

Debbie

The only 'official' PT I had was during my 3 days in hospital. surgery was at about 11.00 am, by mid afternoon I was doing exercises in bed and by late afternoon was walking around on crutches. surgeon then paid his follow up visit and told me to sit in a chair and move my leg back, under the chair. The pain of that was unbelievable. He said OK thats fiine. Once discharged I had no PT at all. I had this booklet of exercises to work through myself. My timeline was 6 Nov 2015 - Surgery. 9 Nov sent home. 19 Nov dressing removed by the practice nurse at my GP's surgery. 24 Nov back to PT at hospital for a PT review. 29 Dec 2015 surgeons review - then told I could drive again and go to work at end of Jan 2016. I returned to work on 26 Jan 2016. I realised that I was not getting anywhere with these book exercises thats when I tried checking out Youtube. Great stuff. Best thing I found to get the bend was to sit on a highish chair, place a flat baking tray on my carpet floor and put foot on it and slide it back under the chair until I got something approaching 130 degree bend. You tube covers these sorts of exercises including getting the leg straight, i.e. zero degrees.

Pain on opposite side of knee lasted around 4 to 6 weeks gradually reducing all the time.

I know many PT's believe the best PT is to push your operated leg so far into pain. My belief is thats rubbish - pain is the body telling you it is in a state of dis - ease ! I pushed myself to the point of pain the backed off and rested. I then elevated and iced until I was ready for the next lot of exercises.

I honestly believe that for the first 6 weeks you should just pace yourself and rest, elevate and ice as much as possible, do what you can do and no more. Your body has gone through major, barbaric surgery and it ain't gonna be a walk in the park (sorry, no pun intended).

You also have to accept that you'll need to learn to walk again ! Yes Debbie, possibly even wobbly baby steps again. I practiced .... heel, ball of foot and then toe. Heel, ball, toe; heel ball and toe. Both legs. This is illustrated on Youtube too. I still do this now even at 7 months.

The benefit of paying for PT or a Sports Massage Therapist is that they only to well understand what muscles need to be strengthened and remember, this strengthening must occur at the same time as healing is occurring, almost a conflict of interests but its so necessary. I also used Aloe Vera Gel to rub into the incision scar to prevent it from getting tight and hard and stiff. I think why we all feel it so hard is that healing is taking place ... YET ... all the exercises we are told to do seem to aggravate/conflict with the healing going on deep inside the knee.

I can only repeat what I said - pace yourself, aim to get back to work later rather than sooner, rest, ice, elevate, make every step a winner (again no pun intended), and know if you do this when you go back to work it will be a lasting, permanent return. If it helps to motivate you, I am 71

Good luck Debbie,

May the force be with you.

John.

You made me laugh ( much needed )when you said the force be with you. I did see that movie!

I called my insurance company and found out I do have coverage for PT. I figured I did and I don't understand why they won't send me. The reason I'd like to go is for the expert guidance as you stated. But I certainly don't want to get the doctor on my bad side by not following his orders. Trying to decide if I should insist on a script or just work diligently on my own.

At what point did you start putting the Aloe on your scar . I never even thought about it hardening until a few have mentioned.

Thank you ,

Debbie

I started using Aloe quite early almost as soon as my dressing was off and I was satisfied that the incision scar was dry and not showing any sign of infection. Say, about 2 and half to 3 weeks post op. I also got my Sports Massage Therapist to  continue working on the upper and lower leg muscles and to massage the area surrounding the incision scar. It is so important to keep this area so supple for the purposes of exercising.. Incidently, my 'stitches' were disolvable staples. So there was no need for me to return for 'stitches removal'. This massaging bit is something I found difficult to do on my own, and actually it wasn't really painful at all.

Hope this helps.

John

I don't see we have any message therapists that are specifically " sports message therapist". Seems they all say they can work with sports injuries . Are we talking the same person . Not sure if I'm explaining correctly . My chiropractor has a message therapist I was going to try . But again she not specify " sports therapy "

Thanks

Debbie

​It might be a problem with wording, like, US English and UK English.

​So long as the 'Therapist' can work on improving the muscle tone and strengthening the operated leg and is able to gently massage the incision mark you should get the results. Most important that the incision is kept clean dry and supple, the more supple the better as that will help avoid scar tissue problems where it all tightens up. The tighter everything is the harder it will be to get the movement you need for normal life.

​My surgeon suggested that I sit upright on a dining room chair and place my leg up on the arm of a lounge. Then gently press down on the operated leg just above the knee cap. Again you could look at Youtube and see what exercises they have on video for leg straightening after TKR or PKR. The weird thing about all the exercises is, that you may do them daily, half daily or hourly and you don't see or feel any noticeable improvement. YET, if you stop doing them you'll have problems returning to normal. If you see what I mean. So just keep on with the exercises and believe that they are working.

Good luck

​John

Hi John

Was just re reading your posts to me. Even going back and reading all the old posts are helpful later on . I'm 6 weeks now on the partial . Back to work two weeks now and lot of pain . Back taking ibuprofen 800 mg instead of hydrocodone and it seems to help although I don't want be taking all these meds anymore Grrrr.

I was wanting to know again about specific exercises you did to strengthen . I started doing a stationary bike but can only do few minutes at time before it is painful , do I push through the pain ? Was never allowed to go to pt so I'm still on my own . I think my bend is coming along pretty good with the little bit I'm doing as far as exercises . I can almost bend it all way back ( on the good day ). Am kicking up the ice as per many on here's recommendations .

Thank you and hope your doing well !

Debbie

Hi Debbie,

This is just an acknowledgement of your message. I'll get back with a better reply later ... I need to go through all my files re exercises and also my Youtube notes. So sorry to read that you are having a battle.

There seem to be two areas of thought re exercises - one to go into pain and stay there and keep exercising or to go up to the point of pain and back off. Then repeat trying to go a little bit further with each time you do the exercise. The latter approach was the one I chose. Pain is the body's way of telling you it is in a state of dis - ease - so remember - your knee has been butchered - literally - why give it any more pain to deal with than it already has. Thats basically why I chose the latter method.

Debbie, I really think you are trying to do things too quickly. I know that we all have bills to pay etc and that puts pressure on the need to get back to work to earn money to pay those bills, and of course all our circumstances are a bit different but if thats the case that you need to review your work/ life balance. If you work, give your knee a 'reward' by resting up as much as you can , elevating, icing, exercising etc. and generally taking it easy.

I am now 8 months post op and am feeling great. Sure - I feel still a bit of a tight band under the knee cap and around the knee but this is easing off as time goes on. there are times when I still feel a need to elevate and ice - yep - even now !

Also I learned very quickly that post op we never seem to be told/taught what is normal for our operated knee, we have no measure of our own progress. so I discovered that you use your non operated knee as the model. What you can do with your non operated knee should be what you should aim for with your operated knee. Get it !

I'll be back in touch later. Take care.

John

Thanks John . At what point did you start maybe forgetting about the knee . It is just so consuming my thoughts and like a distraction because of the pain , feeling strange etc. didn't mean to have you do homework for me , you've already helped a lot in your reply .

thanks Much !

Debbie

Hi Debbie,

Sorry I have not got back to you earlier, just been so flat out at work.

To answer your question .... only now am i starting to forget about my operated knee, which is now just starting to feel like my non operated knee. So, now I'm at 8 months post op. That said, I have no pain, no discomfort ,just a vague awareness that I have an implant in my medial compartment of the right knee. I'm probably as normal as I'll ever be !

Here are the names of the exercises I had to do :-

Heel slides (10 slides 4 times a day) - Static Quads - 5 times - Inner range quads - straight leg raise - gluteal exercises - bending/flexing the knee exercises - hamstring/knee flexion exercises - calf raises/heel raises - mini squats - lunges.

Now as I can't post piccys on here what I suggest you do is go onto Youtube and type in the search box all those names (one at a time) and you should find videos describing each exercise. I found Youtube great for helping me understand what I was doing and the purpose of it.

Hope this helps.

John