Four weeks into PKR

Elevate your leg and use ice packs, prehaps you are on your feet to much.

Ice and elevation reslly does help with the tightness. Good luck

Early days yet. You're healing. If your x-rays, cat scans, whatever else looks ok then keep slowly moving, gentle exercise, strengthen your quad muscles and hamstrings and hope for a great outcome. xx

Run01,

4 weeks out is not very long.  You are still in the early days of recovery.  I'm 12 weeks out and my knee is still tight.  It is important to have a good PT who will help with these issues.  After my incision was healed I was told to put a good lotion on the area and massage it daily.  I am still doing it.  Pain management is key to recovery.  Sadly, I can't take anti inflammatories so I am behind where I should be recovery wise.  The PT said anyone who can't take them has a slow recovery.  I'm down to using Tylenol/paracetamol now which has given me back my appetite and improved my general emotional health.  My hamstring and calve muscles are a mess and very tight from surgery and I think that is taking the longest to heal and prevents me from bending and straightening the knee as I should.  I'm getting there centimetre by centimetre but I will eventually get there.  I need to get out and get me some new shoes.  None of my old ones fit any longer.  I wish you well.  I'm going to start wearing a knee bandage on my other knee.  My husband and I couldn't do this again for a while.  We're exhausted from it all and almost every medication I've been given from pain killers to laxatives have made me sick.  Cheerio. 

After only four weeks you’ll still have a lot of swelling around the knee that’ll hinder your movement and also you may be trying to do to much to soon,tightness does take a while to disapate,I’m coming up 5months TKR and even with little swelling my knee is still stiff first thing until I get moving.Patience it will ease I know it’s easier said than done,but it’s a marathon not a sprint.

Hi There.  I completely agree with you about the pain with this surgery. I too had PKR in june this year and was lead  to believe that it would be a "walk in the park" especially compared to a total. It really doesn't make any difference over whether it is PKR or TKR both require the same or similar recovery. 

?I'm sorry to say 4 weeks is still very early, I needed to be on stronger pain relief until about 6 weeks. The tightness is because there is still a lot of swelling, even if you can't see it, it is inside. As every one has said, ice and elevate! At about 3 months I noticed a difference less tight and great range of motion. I did and still do exercises every day, when I just walk and omit the strengthening exercises I know about it. Sitting for any length of time also stiffens the knee until it has time to loosen again.

?It really is two steps forward and one step back but you will get there. At six months I still have some pain and stiffness especially if it is cold out. I think it takes a year to feel the full benefit. My other knee is bad too but I will try all sorts of medical intervention before surgery! Like you I couldn't face that yet. Having said that, it is now the old knee which is giving me more pain and holding back recovery of the new one!! So where do you go from here!

I'm almost 22 months p/o on a TKR; you're only a month into this.  If PKRs are like TKRs...and a lot of people say the recoveries are similar...then the "tightness" will last for some time.  Even after you get your ROM back, a "band-like feeling" is normal and very, very common.  The docs who talk straight will tell you that everything should resolve within a year but some lingering sensations might last up to 18 months.  Most people start feeling more like "themselves" around 9-10 months and throw a huge party on their one year anniversary...that is, if they've done the ROM work and then take the time to rebuild their dead quads, glutes and core.  This really does take a year...

I've used Voltaren Gel (RX in the US) very successfully as a topical anti-inflammatory, especially at bedtime.  That might help a lot; check for medication interactions.  This recovery takes three things: work, time and patience...and you need all three as the journey is definitely not a linear one...

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/the-reality-of-a-tkr-recovery-in-one-picture-626038

Hang in there, I had my patellar femoral replacement on 9/20 and am just now having days of bring happy that I had it done!  At 4 weeks I was such a mess; so tight and stiff and felt like someone was either squeezing it or poking a knife in it. On top of that was very emotional!  Have had many big surgeries in my life but this one wins the prize!

Hang in there - ice, ice, ice, elevate and do your PT.  You will get there!!

Runt01,

Ditto to all the great suggestions everyone has given you. Another thing you need to do is make sure you surround yourself with positive people who will not only help you around the house so you can take it easy, but also be there for positive emotional support. This surgery has a long and painful recovery. A lot of ups and downs. I had a TKR 4 months ago and still have pain and swelling. It's much less then at the beginning but it still happens. Having positive people around me has really helped when I start feeling frustrated and hopeless. I hope you start feeling better soon and please visit the forum as much as possible. They're a lot of great people here with great advice and always a kind word.

Hi! 19 months PKR . 

You are very early . At 4 months I was still iceing and elevating a lot. And while I was back to work , it was a constant battle with the swelling . Over doing it will cause swelling and t

Hi there I agree with everyone here. 4 weeks is way too early in the process to worry.

Be kind to yourself, do your exercises, rest, ice & elevate, the latter 2, really important for reducing swelling. Take each day as it comes & just remember you've not long had major surgery, give yourself time to heal (mentally as well as physically) as well as the rehab.

Usually by 10/12 weeks you start to realise there is improvement (it kinda creeps up on you!) & things are looking better.

In the meantime we are always here should you need to rant or cry or just chat.

You will get there 

Marilyn 

XX

Are you overdoing things?

Exercise but also rest is important.

Elevate as much as possible, and ice.

You may like to go to my profile by clicking on the image next to my name. I kept a journal of my own knee replacement journey, and I have been told by several people they found it helpful to read, or skim through. There is an abridged version which is shorter as well! It has a lot of useful suggestions and information.

How's your PT going?  The TKR was the most painful surgery I've had and I've also had a few.  It WILL get better, probably around the 6-week mark.

Keep up with the therapy!