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Knee Replacement issues

Posted , 11 users are following.

RobertG06
RobertG06

I am going on my nineth month and I am still in pain and cant straighten my leg after knee replacement, my doctor told me that it would take about a year or more before I'm 100%. Does that mean it will take that long before i can straighten my leg 100%? I am 53 a year old male and its starting to affect my hip and back. Has anyone experienced this? If so please comment and let me know what to expect.

0 likes, 19 replies

19 Replies

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  • mandy95401
    mandy95401 RobertG06

    Posted

    I'm 9 1/2 weeks post op. My leg is straight- bend much harder- on 92 degrees at the moment. My friend who had op same day is struggling with straightening and has been told she has 3 weeks to get straight or face manipulation under anaesthetic.

  • johnny17592
    johnny17592 RobertG06

    Posted

    Hi Robert

    im 4 monthshs post op tkr straightening is ok for me still not fully there on the bend try laying on your back gently pushing you knee to the floor but dont overdo it different people different recovery time bare that in mind

    good luck.

  • michael82177
    michael82177 RobertG06

    Posted

    Sorry to hear about your issue. Are you still going to physical therapy? I am 4 months out and still going to PT. I'm at 120 bend but it's been a struggle.

  • Pleiadeez7
    Pleiadeez7 RobertG06

    Posted

    I'm 8 weeks post-op & still 6 degrees shy from straigtening my leg 100% I have rolled/taped a towel that I keep in bed with my ankle propped up on it when I sleep. Sometimes I lay on the bed, belly down, with my legs hanging off the edge at about mid thigh - I hang my purse from the ankle for extra weight. Also, a yoga strap will help with your stretches; hold the stretch until you just can't stand it one second more. Good luck

  • CHICO_MARX
    CHICO_MARX RobertG06

    Posted

    Took me 9-10 weeks of PT to go from -14 / +84 to -1 / +121.  Have to follow that up with gym work to finish the ROM and rebuild your quads, glutes and core which have basically atrophied over all this time.

    I'm almost 10 months post-op and worked hard to get to 0 / +133 but my strength and balance are definitely not where I want them to be.  Takes a year? Yup...maybe longer...but you have to do the work.

    Hip and back pain are normal in TKR patients.  I had sciatica but it was relieved by a chiropractor on the advice of my ortho.  Here are some thoughts...

    https://patient.info/forums/discuss/the-tkr-experience-or-wish-i-had-another-kidney-stone--524499

    We're all up against the same challenge.  

  • shari_48634
    shari_48634 RobertG06

    Posted

    I'm on my 5th month from my TKR and I wish I never had it done. Nothing has gone right from day one. My surgeon kick me down the road my family doctor took over and now he's sending me to the U of M to see a knee dr. On the 13. I'm still walking with a cane, I can do go up and Down steps. My knee gives out, feels like fluid is running down my leg. Swelling all the time Sore, can't sleep. Depressed, feeling sorry for me.My work wants to firer me. Been off to long. I can't straighten my leg. Hurts to walk so I don't. Went to the E.R. Dec 30 my bad leg was 2 inches bigger. Said I had something going on with my knee...... really....

    • johnny17592
      johnny17592 shari_48634

      Posted

      Hi Shari

      Its fact that when the surgeon has done his job its done but in your case there is obviously a underlying problem surely the hospital you went to and the surgeon would help you even just to reassure you and get to the bottom of the problem.

      I really hope things get better good luck.

    • shari_48634
      shari_48634 johnny17592

      Posted

      You would think so, my dr said he's not taking the responsibility of my knee and other dr.s won't touch it so that's why I'm going to the university of Michigan.

    • johnny17592
      johnny17592 shari_48634

      Posted

      Your surgeon cant be up to much surely there is a duty to care at the hospital im in the UK so i cant comment on the rules in michigan its wrong that you have had so much trouble and no one is helping i hope you get some good news soon.
  • anna79211
    anna79211 RobertG06

    Posted

    Yes, that was me too. After 9 months my leg was not straight and I could not bend my leg more than 90 degrees. My ortho kept telling me I needed to put in more effort in exercising. I went to a different ortho and he recommended a revision and a manipulation. He suspected I had a sensitivity to the metal and this was causing stiffness and pain. My knee would also stay warm. I am so glad I did this. I had the revision and manipulation on Dec 5th and I have a straight leg and can bend to 100 degrees. Going to PT this week after 10 days of home health of PT. I no longer have stiffness like before and less pain. Please go see another ortho. Get another opinion.
  • valerie04000
    valerie04000 RobertG06

    Posted

    Hi Robert, I am 6 months after my TKR and can only just comfortably sit with my feet up laying straight on my settee, but my problem is sufficient bend on my knee. I think different people have different problems, but with time they sort out. I am afraid with this operation you just have to have patience, and my Consultant did say it takes about 1 year before you start feeling normal, so hopefully this will happen. I must admit it certainly feels better than it did a couple of months ago, so I am assuming each month will be better than the last. So hang on in there !!! 
  • Mkhp
    Mkhp RobertG06

    Posted

    hey robert, im 9 months po, still have pain and stiffness. got an mri of lower back apparently have a pinched nerve and something up with the si joint.  am seeing ortho next friday, has taken over a month to get results of tests and to reschedule appt. with doc.  i have pain going through inner tkr thigh and back of thigh as well, believe it is siatica, however the top and back of my knee still work. i had to cut back on exercise, whichi wasnt too thrilled about but didnt want to make things worse. damn if i do, damn if i dont???  im hoping for better results down the road.  i agree with some of the folks here, i most likely should be looking for a second opinion.  i have had this doctor for years, hate change. he did both my hip replacements and i had good results, just thought this surgery would never be anything like it has become for my recovery period.  best of luck to you and good health, k.p. 
    • Mkhp
      Mkhp

      Posted

      i meant the top and back of my knee still hurt
    • CHICO_MARX
      CHICO_MARX Mkhp

      Posted

      Had the same thing with my SI joints five weeks post op.  Ortho recommended a chiropractor.  Gradually fixed within a month because I have a fused back so it had to be slow and easy.  May be faster for you.
    • Mkhp
      Mkhp CHICO_MARX

      Posted

      Hey Sir Marx, I meanCommander, oops. I had lower back fusion as well, before the hips, that was about 12 years ago. I went to the chiro, about 6 - 7 sessions. I stopped, my neck started to really hurt.  A week later that went away, always lookin behind my shoulder to see what "pain culprit" is sneaking up to me 😁😂.  I'm just glad the neck n shoulders feel better. Like you said, slow n easy, boy have I really had to learn patience!  I'm watching tv another terror attack at ft lauderdale airport, awful!  I panic, g forbid I had to start running or get down, what am I to do/say... "Hold it! I got a bum leg!!!??. I'm not tryin by any means to make lite of what is goin on right now at the airport, those poor people on the tarmack.... Yes, our lives could be so much worse. 

    • CHICO_MARX
      CHICO_MARX Mkhp

      Posted

      And they will be worse...

      I'm a great believer in historical cycles as presented in The Fourth Turning: An American Prophesy, Strauss and Howe, 1996.  These historians postulate a theory that America undergoes regular 80-year repeating cycles broken into approximately 20-year "turnings".  

      A First is marked by ascendency, strength, conformity and institutionalization (1946 - 1963).  A Second is one of questionning, divisiveness and experimentation (1964-1984). A Third is characterized by decay, moral ambiguity, self-indulgence and the crumbling of institutions born in the previous First (1985-2001).

      Finally, a Fourth Turning is one filled with fear, anxiety, foreboding, destruction, violence and finally a great calamity (2001 - 2020?).  The last Fouth was the Great Depression and World War II, almost 80 years ago, so we're right on schedule.  Except for a blip at World War I, this cycle has repeated itself since 1620...almost 400 years...like clockwork.

      The bad thing, is that you have to go through it; and since we are now a global society, no one escapes.  The good thing is that all the crap that happens in a Fourth, leads to the birth of a new First Turning as the cycle starts again from the beginning.  Just as the society of the 1950's (a First) looked nothing like the Roaring 20's (a previous Third), our new society after the world blows up this time will look nothing like our current one.  Everything will change...guaranteed...provided that the end of this Fourth doesn't destroy all of mankind.  

      Read the book.  Fascinating.  A lot of their predictions from 1996 have already come to pass.  Buckle up.

    • Mkhp
      Mkhp CHICO_MARX

      Posted

      Woooooaaah, u gave me a lot to ponder there fella. I will check out the book. Hopefully I won't be around for that "Big Bang".im a youngin, 61, female with bone disease, what's a girl to do.  Lookin forward to other knee surgery, possibly shoulders, who knows what else, further back stuff I guess.  I'm goin for a drive n will "buckle up" 😅, you blew me away 🙀🙀, however from my early teachings I do somewhat understand the cycles u refer to. Will look into book. Thanks again wise funny man

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