1. Community
  2. Bones, joints and muscles
  3. Knee Problems

Knee pain and swelling after total knee replacement

Posted , 11 users are following.

james1947
james1947

had surgery three weeks ago,all going well then  developed really bad swelling around joint only.Icing fhelps a little but very fearful something happened!

0 likes, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • cc91807
    cc91807 james1947

    Posted

    Hi James,  You might want to check it out for peace of mind.  i am on five weeks now though an my one knee and leg is still almost twice the size of the other one, although I had swelling even prior to surgery.  It has gone down some, still pretty big.  My DR and PT told me it was quite normal and may take a couple of months to go down.  Not all of us are the same though.  I wish you the best!
    • james1947
      james1947 cc91807

      Posted

      Thank you,it helps.I was quite concerned that it became worse after I thought it was getting better.
    • Oldfatguy1
      Oldfatguy1 james1947

      Posted

      Make sure you elevate the leg just so its above your heart. Remember, you had a tourniquet around the leg for blood control purposes during surgery and that alone can cause pooling of blood in some rather strange ways. Stay off the leg and stick with working on quad strengthening.
  • jen04209
    jen04209 james1947

    Posted

    Don't forget to ice and elevate several times a day.

  • tana4life
    tana4life james1947

    Posted

    James

    Hate to be the Voice of bad news I had both my knees replaced same time and my left kept swelling up twice it's size, I asked my knee surgeon.He kept saying it's normal but it was not normal . I had developed a DVT clot behind my left knee. It called an unprovoked DVT. It's caused by the surgery And the fact that the rehab place decided not to give me a blood thinner my surgeon prescribed. It was a nightmare in my recovery process. So here 11 months post op and im am just done with all the sonagrams and vein stripping. So check it out before it goes to far. If my surgeon had figured it out my life and my recovry would have been so much better.

  • shari_48634
    shari_48634 james1947

    Posted

    Welcome to the group. I'm shari and I had a tkr 4 months ago. It will get better, I had swelling from day one. One thing is ice ice and more ice this should help. Make sure you do your pt exercises. I will be going back to work the first of January.

  • ihavenonickname
    ihavenonickname james1947

    Posted

    I would request an appointment just to have it checked out.

    ,

    You may be becoming more active, spending less time with your knee elevated and heavily iced. Even just sitting with your knee down for five minutes can cause a flare.

    Remember, you are in a marathon, not a sprint. At this stage, it doe not take much to over do things.

  • clive45466
    clive45466 james1947

    Posted

    If you only had pain after 3 weeks maybe you are lucky. It's a long road, don't be in a hurry

    Good healing

  • Ankle_Surgery
    Ankle_Surgery james1947

    Posted

    Three weeks it’s too soon! Keep icing, It probably takes so much more time...

    Make sure you do your pt exercises & don’t forget to ice several times a day, ice and more ice this should help.

Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.