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Knee manipulation after 6months of physical therapy

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Gizzy2020
Gizzy2020

my total knee replacement surgery was November 2019.

after 12 weeks of physical therapy, I continued home exercising 2x a day.

at my orthopedic 6 month appointment orthopedic suggested knee manipulation .

the reason for mua was to improve the extension.

I did the mua july 6. working on a CPM machine 6 hrs a d going to physical therapy every day a d doing home excercises 3x daily. it's been a week a d all I feel is soreness a d stiffness. is this enough to get my extension to 0.

should I get a second opinion or a new physical therapist? I'm frustrated. I don't see improvement from the mua. please advise . thank you.

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1 Reply

  • scott57524
    scott57524 Gizzy2020

    Posted

    Hey Gizzy ~

    I have not been checking this site for a while, but I did see your frustrated post. I, likeyou, had a TKA last September 2019. After 80+ visits to p-t, 3x/week I had an MUA at about 6 months out from surgery. I've used every mechanical device known to man, massage, chiropractic graston technique, etc.etc. I'm on my last resort which is the Dynasplint (Google it). I'm using it now for extension. I may use it later for flexion, but after I finish with extension. I'm better, but I'm also convinced that you can over-do the exercise like you've been doing. Be more kind to your knee, but keep it moving. More and more I'm convinced that some of us are unicorns and it just takes longer to recover. Anatomically I'm OK according to the xrays and my surgeon. I can passively get to 0 and 130 degrees, but actively I struggle to get past 10 and 112. In the past few months I have made progress albeit slow.

    I meet with my surgeon on July 30, 2020. On that date it will have been 11 months post-op. We'll make an assessment and decide best next steps. He's mentioned another open surgery to possibly replace the polyethylene spacer with a smaller one. Obviously I'm uninterested in that concept at this time. Unless there's a really good reason that makes some sense to me I'll just keep working for another 6 months and then see how I do.

    I know that this recovery from TKA can suck, but I think that we're in that small, special group that is really good at developing scar tissue. I'm hopeful that time will be the answer. Also, I'm assuming that your surgery was successful mechanically.

    Best of luck and hang in there!

    Scott

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