Knee problems
Posted , 6 users are following.
Hello Everyone.
Im hoping maybe i can get some kind of answers with my total knee replacement i had now a month ago. At first everything seemed to be going good but now Im at a point of my knee not letting me bending it. I got in to PT 2 times a week and i enjoy doing my exercise but when i get back home my knee gets stiff again. Yes I do ice it and all and yes sometimes I dont always follow through with my home exercise but not always ..I am still using a walker and sometimes my cane but dont feel comfortable on it all the time ...will my knee start to bend on its own or am i going to be one of those people that this didnt work for me ? Any advice would be grrar
0 likes, 4 replies
CHICO_MARX irene6988
Posted
First: Give up all your expectations and timelines. This is the most Zen of all surgeries: "The knee will be better when it's better." Period. Also, never compare your recovery to that of anyone else. This a personal experience and everyone is different. Most commonly, the first 8-12 weeks are the most difficult as you get past the worst of the pain and get your ROM back. Gotta do the ROM work or everything else is a waste of time.
Next, there are too many topics for you to consider and read. Click on my name, then click "Discussions", and then "View All". Got about 30 out there covering a whole range of subjects. Hope they help.
jenny61596 irene6988
Posted
When you excercise your knee will swell so its normal that it cant bend, a month is nothing , expect recovery to take a lot longer , I found at about 8 weeks an improvement ,for me it was quite sudden , so what you are experiencing is normal
CHICO_MARX jenny61596
Posted
Taking that suggestion a little further...
Yes, you have to keep the knee active especially doing the ROM work early to break down the scar tissue. Plus you have to walk, but be slow and gentle. A knee CANNOT be pushed to recovery like you can a hip (I've had both). The trick is to measure your progress in STEPS, not in time or distance. Get a pedometer device to count your steps and track your progress.
If you overdo it on any given day, you get "balloon knee". Swelling, pain, sleepless nights, etc. This is a guarantee: You will do it once...we all do...learn the lesson from that mistake. At 5 weeks, I did 8,200+ steps with my daughter in a mall. I paid for that error in judgment for three days.
So... Slow and easy, count your steps, chart your progress. By eight months p/o, I was doing 11,000 steps a day with zero problems. Remember...no "balloon knee"!!!
lynda49844 irene6988
Posted
I have to agree with Chico and Jenny. Your knee is objecting to something you're doing. That happened to me at 4 weeks too. I incorporated a shoulder bridge exercise to my routine. The knee swelled, became painful, wouldn't bend properly and I couldn't out any weight on my bent knee either. Getting up from sitting was excruciating. I rested it for a couple of days, icing for an hour a time and keeping it elevated as much as possible before returning to basic heel slides and leg raises until it improved. It took a while and, rather like Jenny, it was 8 weeks that I noticed a big improvement and stopped questioning whether I should ever have had it done. Hang on in there and it will get better. It's easy to overdo things when we start to improve. I learnt the hard way, did it again a couple of weeks back, but at just over 3 months I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and appreciate my lovely straight leg. All I need now is to get the other one straight, but I'm not rushing into it!