TKR Post Op 4-Weeks

You have a lot of emotional stress to contend with at a very difficult time. It is still very early days . Decide not to be worried. Presumably your physio has given you all the necessary exercises to do. Plod on. And a few days of less exercise isn't going to harm your recovery. Sending good wishes.

First, sorry about your mom...

For you, this is totally normal, especially considering what you've been through.  It took me 10 weeks of PT @ 2x/week to go from -14 / +84 to -1 / +123 (the goal is 0 / +120). At almost 15 months, I'm 0 / +133 but that took more work after PT.  Just get back to PT and finish the ROM work.

Many people on here who have a second TKR at some point after their first one report that their experience was way different with the second than the first. Some better, some worse...it seems so individual and almost random.  Leave that judgment in the past and just get on with your recovery.  Again, no judgment, no comparison.  Deal with the NOW.

Good luck...

Oh Vickie, sometimes life just seems to throw everything at us at the same time. If you are being thrown balls from all directions you cannot catch them, impossible!

I hope your Mother is doing better now.

Give yourself a break, do your exercises at home, try to do them as well as you can, its quality not quantity with rehab exercises. You are still very early in the TKR recovery process, so don't worry unduly. You will get there. This recovery can take a year, so 30 days is nothing. Just try to do what you can, as the stresses in your life ease you will be able to do more & harder especially as your swelling goes down & you heal.

You are absolutely doing the right thing by taking pain meds before exercise, but perhaps try warming the joint before exercise also, then as you do ice.

Are you massaging your scar? This will help to stop the layers underneath from 'sticking' together & forming scar tissue. You can use BioOil, Nivea Crewe, VitE cream or some use Wmu Oil. Just something that will not upset your skin & will make massaging easier.

A lot of us were given an exercise to stretch the leg to give extension, which is to sit on your sofa or a chair with the heel of your operated leg on another chair or a stool and let gravity do its work. Do not support the knee, it kills!!! On my exercise sheet it said to do for 10 mins, but I couldn't stand the pain for that long & gradually built it up. But I was lucky in that my leg extended straight away after the op, it was the bend I had to work on!!

Good luck with everything. Just remember we're always here if you need us, even if just to vent!!

Sending big hugs 🤗 🤗🤗🤗

Marilyn

XX

Vickie, it's so understandable that you've had other things to concentrate on after your TKR but it is really SO important that you do the exercises at home and go to your pt sessions.  Straightening the leg is very important - you need this to walk without a limp.  You still have time to correct this but you need to be focussing on yourself and your knee.  I think most of us on here who have had a TKR will say that the first four or five weeks were totally 'me and my knee' concentrating on resting, elevating, icing and doing those slide exercises to increase the bend and if you need them, the straightening exercises too.  I'm sure the stress with your Mother has taken it out of you being the same time as what is a major operation, but I hope you can get the rest you need now and spend the time on doing those exercises that are SO important.  I hope your Mother is OK too.