RECOVERY TIME LINE

My surgeon told me I would want to murder him for the first 4 weeks, and then I would start to see the improvements. How true!

I am now 4 and half weeks after unicompartmental knee replacement and suddenly the pain is receding, I am getting a better range of movement, I am about to jettison my single crutch for a stick just outdoors. I can do a few stairs leg over leg, I can sit more comfortably. I still need a pillow between my legs in bed and find it difficult to get comfortable. I have reduced painkillers except at night and am walking a littlefurther each day.

the leg still plays up in the evenings...shooting pains and a general acheing.

Is anyone allowed to mention sex here.....difficult!

I'm 41 and my surgery was Tibial Tuberosity transfer, lateral release, arthroscopy and capsulorrhaphy (90 min surgery). I was only in hospital overnight and the physio had me partial weight bearing on crutches first thing the next morning.

I was off Endone (oxycontin) after 3 days and only needed the odd paracetamol for the first week. The other thing that noone told me was the whole toilet situation! Make sure you take some kind of mild laxative after surgery or you may get blocked up, a tsp of coconut oil each day did the trick for me 😜.

I was in a straight leg brace for 2 weeks, but I started rehab 3 days post op and we were doing mild passive flexion and massage (lymph drainage) in those sessions.

I started swimming at the end of week 2 post op, but I did have a waterproof dressing for the first 2 sessions.

I was down to one crutch at the end of week 3 and didn't use it around the house. By week 4 I was only using the single crutch when I was going to be out for a while and I was also driving again. I also started getting into massaging the scar at around the end of week 3; I use aloe vera gel and cocoa butter.

I'm at rehab 3 days a week and my osteo is really focusing on my gait, making sure that I land the foot with a heel strike, flat foot through the stride and push through the big toe to lift off. It's really important to not swing the foot outwards and don't lift the hip.

I'm at the end of week 5 post op now and I can get my leg to flex to 120°, which my Osteo is happy with. Knee still feels unstable if I try to walk too fast and it gets swollen if I do too much; so I'm still icing it a few times a day.

I'm 9 weeks now and was getting deflated because

My bend seemed worse and the outer hamstring was very tight hampering walking.

This afternoon i got up from my desk (working from home) and tripped over the foot of a floor fan.

I manged to stop myself falling but the pain made me swear and feel sick. When i recovered i started to walk into the kitchen and not only did i realise there was no pain but my knee felt looser.

I went downstairs for a short walk and it was all much easier. I think i must have torn away some scar tissue! Not to be recommended but brilliant result in my book!

I can now bend more than before too!

I am in my mid forties and took up table tennis 2 years ago. Last October during a training session my left knee started to grumble and got progressively worse, causing me to limp badly. I saw a physio after about 4 weeks and she recommended an MRI scan, which showed damage to the cartilage.

It has been a tough few weeks but I have got through it by refocusing the determination I normally channel into my sport into doing the exercises and elevation/ice.

So far I am doing well. I am now able to walk without crutches and able to potter around the house without the leg brace.

For the exercises I set up a routine and use a spreadsheet on my pad to monitor it with alarms on my phone to remind me to do the exercises - this has worked really well and has also made the days go faster.

I bought an exercise bike on the recommendation of my physio but sadly after just one week it broke, so in the meantime until it is fixed I am using a pedal set (not as good as the bike but better than nothing).

This week I was able to start driving again which is great but at the moment I am keeping it to short local journeys.

I am attending physio once a week where she does a deep tissue massage, checks my gait and has helped me gain more flex in the knee. This week we focused more on extension (straightening) which has been difficult with the residual swelling still in the knee.

Looking back I think the first couple of weeks were the hardest - the initial shock of the operation followed by the torture of having those awful TED stockings on and dealing with terrible constipation from the codeine really got me down. We don't have a shower and I was unable to have a bath in the first 2 weeks. I could not sleep in my normal position on my side so had to get used to sleeping on my back. I used a journal to write things down and that helped me to keep it in perspective. I have also been very lucky in having great support at home.

If I had any advice to others preparing to have this or similar operation it would be this:

1) buy a decent wedge pillow and reusable ice packs before the operation.

2) Make sure you have enough room around the house to use crutches without obstacles.

3) have a good stock of comfy clothes ready and some dry shampoo for your hair.

4) Have a lightweight backpack that you can use to carry things from one room to another whilst on crutches and buy a small flask for tea/coffee/soup for those days where you are managing alone.

4) find out what equipment you might need afterwards (eg spinning exercise bike) and borrow or purchase the best quality one that you can (with a good after sales support).

5) Be prepared to put your normal life on hold for a while so you can focus on recovery.

I still have a long way to go before I will be back at the table tennis club but at least I have reached the first major milestone (6 weeks) in reasonable shape.