TKR

you do a wonderful job to hike with pain.

As everyone has different results you may be able to hike after TKR but i would think it would be several months after TKR before you could do so

Yup...provided that you work to: 1. get your ROM back to at least 0-degrees straight and +120-degrees bent; and 2. rebuild all of the supporting knee musculature (quads, glutes, core, etc.). This will take time...it does NOT happen overnight.

After the ROM work in usually the first three months, you will also have started a walking regimen. In this case, STEPS matter...not time or distance. Each step puts a load on the knee and the joint can only take so much at any given point in time. The problem is that you don't know what this it, hence the need for a fit bit or smart watch to count, track and chart your step count. You keep increasing gradually.

However, one day you will inevitably go too far (we ALL did!!!) and get "balloon knee". Rest, ice, elevate...it goes away in a few days. Notice the number of steps you took that day, pull back a bit and resume gradually. I was presented with my "balloon" at 5 weeks when I did 8,200+ steps one day. Never made that mistake again. By 8 months, I was doing over 11,000 steps a day with no problem. You numbers will vary as we're all different but the process is the same.

Next, to do any hiking, you'll need all your muscle strength back. You can start this when you're feeling a bit better and your ROM is improving. The keys are time, work and patience as this will take a while. Your muscles will probably be atrophied from non-use; the exercise will allow you to walk correctly, regain your balance and enable stair climbing...all of these skills will be critical for your hiking adventures. Here's the muscle work...

Muscle Rebuild

Listen to your knee. When you think you're ready, I'd recommend a short hike (a few miles) with some increase in grade and pitch...nothing too insane! That night, listen to your knee...by the next morning, you will know if it was too much. As you learn your limits, get stronger and increase the distance and pitch gradually. You will not immediately be able to put your foot on an elevated rock and ask your quads to pull you up there...that will take time. Understand that a full TKR recovery usually takes a full year so don't expect that you'll be climbing mountains in 6 months...chances are you won't be able to handle that much that soon. For me, I was climbing stairs two at a time without holding onto anything at 14 months...I hope you beat that number.

So it's ROM, muscles and a slow, gradual increase in strength and activity. A year later, you'll be fine if you did all the work diligently. In TKRLand...if you want the ability back, you've gotta work for it. Ready???

if you are able to hike like that why would you go through all that agaiin ?

i had pkr MAY 2016 and would not do that . i walk alot but i know if i did a hike uphilll i would get pain and swelling ( have learned my limits ).

maybe it hurts becase your over doing it ? just a thought !

Debbie

Interested to read responses to this. I had a PKR 12 weeks ago and am hiking despite still having tightness and pain as I'm looking at it as good exercise / strengthening for my recovering knee. I have almost full ROM back (except when it gets a bit swollen) and I managed a 5 mile fell walk last week in the Lake District. However, I was hiking 13 miles before my knee-op (with some pain and dreadful crunching due to my complete absence of cartilage but I still managed it). I had the PKR in the hopes i could hike pain and crunch free, and also feel more stable on descents from mountains (as sometimes my knee would just 'go'.) At the moment I'd say i have more pain than before (but a different type of pain) but the awful crunching has gone and i'm hoping it's early days yet for me at 12 weeks and i know i have to put a lot of work in to strengthen my muscles again.

I still do wonder whether i did the right thing even having the PKR should as it was less painful before the op than it is at the moment and i was managing hiking long distances. I'll do anything if it means I can hike and do more challenging routes with more confidence and I hoped the PKR would enable that. The jury's out. I totally empathise with your dilemma. If it's any reassurance, I do know a couple of chaps who have had TKRs and are really active since. They were also very active pre op and I think that's the key: if you want to be active and do things then you will. Where there's a will there's a way!

Good luck.