Mastering Post-TKR Stairs
Posted , 27 users are following.
Going Up...
- Go to a stair.
- Hold on to the handrail!!
- Put the foot of your BAD leg on the step.
- Pull yourself up to the step.
- Bring up your other foot.
- Put the foot of your bad leg back down on the floor.
- Balance on that leg while you bring your other foot down.
- Repeat...a lot.
A few other thoughts regarding "up"...
1. You'll probably need to hold on to a handrail at the beginning. The goal is to do it by yourself without holding on to the rail for balance.
2. You will have a tendency at the beginning to crouch a bit and "spring off" with your good leg. Don't...that's cheating. The whole point is to build strength in the quadricep of your bad leg. Success is using the strength of that leg alone to get you to the next step.
3. This is a basic up and down exercise. As you progress, go to the next step...and then the next...with the bad leg first building your strength. Finally, go up a flight of stairs normally with alternating legs...and then without holding on to anything.
Going Down...
- Go to a stair.
- Hold on to the handrail.
- Put the foot of your GOOD leg on the lower step.
- Bend your knee and bring the foot of your bad leg down.
- Do the same all the way down.
- Repeat...a lot.
A few other thoughts regarding "down"...
1. You will have a tendency to not bend the bad leg but to "swing it around" to get to the lower step. Don't do this. Concentrate on bending your leg, achieving good ROM to get your bad leg down to the next step. Keep your leg IN LINE and not swinging it out to the side.
2. Once you get stronger, lead with your bad leg and balance on it while bringing your good leg down. This will rely on your stronger quads.
3. You'd better hold on to a handrail while doing this...probably for a long time. Don't trust the new knee completely until your quads are really strong and you feel that you have your balance back.
TKR CHALLENGE...
Go up the stairs TWO AT A TIME!!!!!! Yes, this will take you a year or more to achieve...At nine months p/o and almost 69 years old, I'm not close to doing this on a whole flight of stairs although I can do the first double (but I still cheat by pulling on the handrail a bit...very annoying...gotta try harder). Goals are meant to push us to become better. This one's mine. Will it be yours???
3 likes, 57 replies
celticchick CHICO_MARX
Posted
CHICO_MARX celticchick
Posted
I know. That's why the post has been very controversial. This is the way I was taught in PT...so were many others. But then a whole bunch of people were taught the exact opposite. I have no explanation for it. All I know is that I did it this way and at 14 months, I was climbing stairs two at a time without holding onto anything. I call that a successful rehab. People are free to take the advice or do the opposite. Their choice.
Danie_E CHICO_MARX
Posted
Hi Chico_Marx;
When I first arrived home I was informed to do the stairs - Going down to lead with the bad leg straight. Going up to lead with the good leg and bring the bad leg up. It was good advice for safety. But at some point you have to switch to your advise. At 5 weeks I am alternating legs coming up - with a little spring in my bad leg to help get up and I use a handrail and crutch to alternate legs going down because my knee is not strong enough to hold me going down.
There is no other way to relearn navigating steps except by building the quads and tendons around the knee. I think these moves can be practiced by following your advise: practice going downstairs with the good leg and the TKR leg bent and going up leading with the TKR leg - of course, only when you are ready. Preferably, practicing on the lower step until you can perform these moves safely before navigating the other steps.
CHICO_MARX Danie_E
Posted
Doing stairs is very controversial since "up with the good", which I was taught, conflicts with people who where taught the reverse. The key is really rebuilding all the dead musculature that supports the knee (quad, glutes, core, etc.).. This takes time as you build endurance before strength...
Muscle Rebuild
At 14 months, I was climbing stairs two at a time, alternately, and without holding on to anything. However, that's just me and we all know that everyone is different. What worked for me may or may not work for you. But one thing is certain: You cannot go up the the bad leg if your quad is dead...physical impossibility. So the answer is you have to get all that muscular strength back. Another goo way is to use exercise steps where you can use one to start and the stack a second and a third. Just make sure you're next to a wall for balance.
Check out the program above...I hope it helps.