Newbie to forum with TKR 18 days ago

I had my surgery Nov 20th! I also experienced a lot of thigh pain! Mine was due to the tourniquet they used during surgery and also my periformis muscle tighten from waking inproperly! My therapist does a periformis release at least once a week and it resolved! I still have some thigh muscle soreness but with exercise it should strengthen! I would ice my knee and use the heating pad for my thigh, which helps tremendously! Good luck ! 

Wow you have done really well, I had my TKR on the 9th January I can on bend to 70 degrees and I cont lift my leg at all I am getting quiet worried as I seem to have no feeling in my thigh even though I'm trying all the time while on the sofa. I start my physio next Tuesday. Don't push yourself ice and elevation is good for pain and swelling .

Start here...

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

Then click on my name and "See All Discussions".  Tons of stuff out there.

This is a long-haul recovery...a year is very typical.  There are advances, setbacks and plateaus.  There will be pain and frustration along with some joyful milestones.  It takes time, work and patience...

Mine is doing the same as yours  I was told the tendon and IT band are shorter and need to be stretched and worked.  I am 6 weeks and my leg is always aching

Congratulation! Dont worry about the leg lifting matter, it is common and should resolve with time. I found massage helpful for my rehab.

At around two weeks post op I started massaging the operated leg with olive oil and frankincense daily and pulling towards the direction of my heart. Inhaling the wonderful smell and doing the massage was lovely and relaxing. You only realise the tension you hold in your body often when you let it go, so it was a relaxation exercise too. I took nice full lung breaths and set my will to love my new knee, even though it was inflamed! So the massage was a very nice daily routine!

I kept away from the incision which still had its dressing on.

I elevated the leg when I massaged it, as high as I could, and took the TEDS off for the the half hour I did it, which was also quite a relief! I found massaging right down from the bottom of the leg and up to the thigh good.Pretty similar to what I used to do before the surgery when in pain.

Listen to your knee...if pain is worse today it may be you over did things a bit the day before?

Everyone is different and countries vary too..in UK many people get given crutches rather than a walker, for example.Maybe two sticks or crutches would take the pressure off a bit more...? But as said, different advice given from place to place and professional to professional. My physio encouraged me to stick with crutches for as long as I needed, as my quads were weak and took a while to activate.

You may like to go to my profile by clicking on the image next to my name. I kept a journal of my own knee replacement journey, and I have been told by several people they found it helpful to read, or skim through. It was written to convey the need for patience, something our culture in the western world is not really geared up to! It has a lot of useful suggestions and information.

All very good wishes to you. It's well worth it...hard at first but good in the end. I am now 11 months post op and its just great to be mobile again!

You are in the very beginning.ing steps of recovery at 3 weeks. Take pain meds, do the basic exercises, listen th o your therapist, rest and drink lots of water for proper hydration. This isn't a sprint, its a marathon. Pushing too hard in the beginning will only cause unwanted setbacks. Recovery from tkr is not lineal, its an up and down, 2 steps forward and one back and an occasional plateau. Don't let therapists or yourself put You in severe pain. You are going to hurt and there is no escaping that but exercising so h a rd that it takes days to recover isn't healing. Rest, sleep when you can. Rest is the bodies way of saying time out, I need this to heal. Listen to your own body talking to you. Don't get caught up in listening to others and how they or family members were trying for e furnace runs by the end of 2 weeks. Scroll through here and find the writings of Chico Marx. He te)la this story in perfect fashion as he has been through a lot. Personally, I have had 11 surgeries plus 30 rounds of radiation on my left leg, all either directly or indirectly caused by a nasty rare tumor. I've been through 5 complete rehabs over the last 15 + years starting at age 65 and I turn 81 in a couple weeks. You will improve slowly but you will improve. Stay with this forum because you are joining that rare group of people who have undergone this surgery looking for a better, pain free life. Hang in there, sometimes its good to know you are very normal even though you may not think so. By the way 110 in 3 weeks is fantastic.

Wow--110 degrees in 10 days?? That is unbelievable--I just made it to 110 degrees and my surgery was Dec 5th 2017. I am walking without any type of aid--have driven already and can cycle all the way around on my stationary bike as of yesterday.  It still hurts when I go down stairs--my major goal is to go down a few steps without pain stepping one step right after the other step without having to turn my hips sideways--you know--looking like normal people do when they go down steps-lol.  My extension is stuck at -2--but I have a significant pronation of my left foot which my therapist feels it is preventing me from getting to 0. I am 74--soon to be 75 and this has been a rough journey for me--do not recall this when I had my right knee done 10 years ago--but it could be because I let my left one go too long without surgery--(I was told both knees were equally as bad and should have had left one done soon after recovery was done with  right one.  But pain didn't get to bad with left one until about 1 year ago.My left knee still aches and pains whenever it feels like it--I still ice it and elevate it when sitting at home  or in bed.  I think you are doing amazingly well.!!