TKR in January 2020
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Hi. I had my left knee replaced in January. After 5 weeks I was doing brilliantly, no pain, no walking aids but now at 11 weeks I'm having trouble. It's painful, stiff and I'm having trouble getting out of a chair and walking up and down stairs. Before the op I was on crutches so afterwards felt I had my life back. I'm depressed like thousands of others as I'm stuck at home due to Covid 19, keeping away from infection. I'm 73. What's gone wrong? Thanks in advance for any ideas
0 likes, 3 replies
Deigh Pippyj
Edited
It sounds like you may be pushing yourself too hard. Stiffness and tightness are common, especially when trying to do more activities. I was doing well and about 9 weeks had the same concerns you have. The ITband area was painful and felt like it was pulling as far as my toes. Found some stretches on the internet that helped tremendously with that. At month 15 I still have some tightness, especiallywhen I overdo things, or don't do enough, but that ITband pain is gone and tightness is getting better every day. This is a long recovery, and most don't have a text book recovery that we are told to expect. Look up Chico Marx on this site, he has articles that he has provided. His advice has helped a lot of us understand what to actually expect. It can be a year to 2 before this tightness and stiffness goes away, getting better slowly.
CHICO_MARX Pippyj
Edited
Nothing's wrong. Recovery is a journey of advances, setbacks and plateaus (the worst!). Your tools are time, work and patience. When you overwork the knee, it will become swollen and painful...a "Balloon Knee". I did 8,200+ steps at five weeks and I paid for that error in judgement very dearly...for days... I got a pedometer with software to track my steps. Time and distance are irrelevant as it's THE STEPS that put the load on the knee. This is a very slow, gradual process with gains achieved over many months. Once I wised up, I was doing 11,000 steps at 8 months...no problem.
The other thing is that all the musculature that supports the knee is dead...D-E-D...dead. Gotta rebuild all those muscles (quads, glutes, hip flexors, core, etc.) so they can take the strain they used to do before the surgery. The program starts slowly to gain endurance before strength. It will take you the rest of the year to walk correctly, regain your balance and be able to do stairs up and down alternately like a normal person again. THEN...you have to keep the knee active for the rest of your life or it starts to stiffen up again. I'm 4 years post-op...this is a fact no doctor told you about...same with Post-Op Depression. No one tells you the important stuff...
Here's the exercise plan plus a bonus discussion...
Muscle Rebuild
Other Pain
Click on my name, Discussions, See All. I've got about 30 of them on here for all sorts of topics. And... Post this on your fridge...
Get rid of all expectations, imaginary time tables and comparisons to other people. This is YOUR recovery. Own it!!!
sarah87162 Pippyj
Edited
I don't think anything has necessarily gone wrong here.
It just takes time and patience.
Good days and bad days.
I had TKR 8 years ago and was told it would be about a year before I began to feel the benefit. People heal at different rates but I think for me that was about right.
Sorry if that seems a long way off to you at the moment but better to be realistic about it.
Keep up the exercises.
Take care and keep in touch.
Sarah