Tourniquet pain?
Posted , 7 users are following.
Hi all,
I am now 5 weeks post op (partial knee replacement) and still suffering from severe thigh pain and tightness that extends into my hip and groin. It makes bending my leg really hard as it feels like my thigh muscle will snap but I think I can get it to about 100 degrees with strain (It's a bit if a guess as I haven't seen a physio yet and won't until Friday, but it's definitely more than 90.) . The thigh pain is much more than any knee pain. I don't get to see my surgeon until 10 weeks post op but I did finally manage to talk to a registrar on the phone yesterday. He has suggested this could be as a result of the tourniquet used in the op and the pain could remain for several months! Has anyone else had this? I do my exercises religiously and ice and elevate 5-6 times a day but I feel I'm hardly getting anywhere. I'm still having to take codeine which I hate. No-one mentioned tourniquet pain to me pre-op. I feel very cheesed off!
0 likes, 14 replies
Pepperpot68 Caitibean
Posted
Don't give up. I'm 7 weeks post op and I to experience the stiffness and some pain mine is around the knee and lower thigh, sadly so I understand this could be the case for sometime. Mine feels like a elastic band has been put round and round my knee several times. All I can say is it does seem to of eased quite a bit over last couple of weeks. Discuss it with your physio on Friday you may need different exercises for your individual requirements. We just have to keep up the exercise, walking and ice. Good luck
Caitibean Pepperpot68
Posted
I have the exact same 'elastic bands around the knee' feeling, but also an elastic band running up the front of my thigh into my groin and the side into my hip. Glad to hear yours is starting to improve - gives me some hope!
Pepperpot68 Caitibean
Posted
Hope your knee soon starts to improve. It is a slow progress and some days I'm really positive and others I'm so fed up frustrated, tearful and just don't know what to do. I was so blind going into this was given no idea of how hard it is after. We just have to be patient.!!
purplerlover Caitibean
Posted
I just started month 7 and the tourniquet pain is still here and getting worse. I am doing the exercises every day as directed. And ridin g the NuStep every day. It gets so tight it won't bend. Now I have found out I have a partial tear in the other foot's Achilles Tendon. Podiatrist says becsause that leg is trying to support TKN leg. Have to be fitted with something so the tear will heal. I was so uninformed of what all could happen. My pain now is worse than before surgery.
Caitibean purplerlover
Posted
I'm so sorry to hear this. I know how you feel regarding the frustration over being uninformed. Mind you, perhaps no-one would do it if they knew all possible eventualities. I hope you improve soon and I'm sure you will - I suppose we have to remember it can take a year or more. Take care.
Deigh Caitibean
Posted
I am six months after surgery and still have the tightness around my knees. At one point it went from my hip to my toes and I thought I would lose my mind dealing with this. I started having massages and it eventually took the muscle pain away, which was caused by using muscles that I had not used for years. I still have the tightness around my knees, which is very uncomfortable, but I am able to walk. dance, and pretty much do things I have not been able to for years. In speaking with other people this tightness may last 12 to 18 months, which now knowing that at least lets me know it will eventually pass and not something to worry about,even though it is frustrating and uncomfortable. I do find that as physio tries to increase my exercises the tightness gets worse. I am going to take a break and do the activities of everyday life, do exercises and stretches I am comfortable with and see if it helps relieve the symptoms. My surgeon suggested this. I recognize that I still need to do exercises, but I am pretty strong as is, and feel that the increased strength building can wait for now. Best of luck with your recovery.
Caitibean Deigh
Posted
I think what you say about hanging on to the knowledge that it WILL pass eventually is very important. I'm so impatient to get back to my old life and climb mountains again! But I WILL!
ddaapp Caitibean
Posted
Hello I have the same pain (TKR) and still need to take Codeine. I saw my GP on a different matter this week and mentioned it to her, she had a TKR some years ago and said that she had the same pain that lasted nearly a year. There is hope just give it time. I think we try to run before we can walk in a manner of speaking, the COPE nurses visit me and said to do the exercises but dont over do it, do take the pain meds and be patient its a different recovery for each of us. ( I am 5 weeks post op, but for the second time, after first op infection set in and I had to have a revision wash out and liner replaced ). Dont stress look forward in weeks rather than days good luck
Caitibean ddaapp
Posted
You're right and I know I'm impatient. I think I'm finding it so hard because my pain wasn't terrible pre op and with pain killers and poles I was still managing to do 13 mile mountain hikes, but now can do nothing at all! But as you say, it's a long old road and it's important to be patient. Thanks for the wise words and I wish you the best with your recovery.
irene6988 Caitibean
Posted
OMG I've been having the same pain in the same areas..In the groin area and my thigh. i had my right knee done and i find when i also lay on my left side with a pillow between my legs i start to feel my right thigh getting hard. I start to rub it our but it painful.This has also made my knee harder to bend and also straighten out like i use to be able to.I was already suppose to return to work at the end of July but my last visit my doctor added another extra month off.. i feel like I'm going backwards instead of forward. hoping when its time for me to return to work that I'm 100% ready with my line of work. not sure if there is a time frame the doctor will make me go back to work and I'm worried that i feel i wont be ready .btw i had my knee done in March ..i feel like i should be doing better then this .I'm also bending only at 107
Caitibean irene6988
Posted
Just wondering what your doctor has said about it? Has he/ she mentioned tourniquet pain? I too am worried about return to work. I am a secondary school teacher, on my feet all day in lessons (I NEVER sit down!) and I am up and down stairs between different classrooms carrying heavy books and resources! Pre-op the registrar told me I would be able to go back after 6 weeks. What a joke! I'd just as easily fly to the moon and back. I'm now signed off for 8 weeks which thankfully takes me to the end of term so I'll also get the summer holiday to recuperate. Even so, I am apprehensive about how I'll manage in September. I suppose I shouldn't worry about what hasn't happened yet but my rate of progress feels so slow!
I'm sorry to hear you are having such problems. Sleeping is also hard for me and I'm having very wakeful nights as I can't get comfortable and lie awake worrying. Last night I had a nightmare, and woke up in shock and tried to jump out of bed, forgetting my leg. OMG the pain!!!! I then spent the next half hour screaming and crying with the agony and woke the kids! It has to get better!
purplerlover Caitibean
Posted
I am at a point where I will be getting a 2nd opinion IF I can find anyone that will touch me after another surgeon already operated on me. I am starting month 7!!!!! If I am sitting or laying on my back I feel no pain. If I am up and moving I am in pain. 2" wide strip hard and painful and hard and painful under knee/. Sometime the knee, but not lately. Constant. Ice helps. Still can't go down stairs. I lead with my left surgical foot. Very fearful putting it down on the step and then put the right foot on the step, clinging to the hand rail. I can come up the steps the usual way with some pain on the left knee. Getting into the shower is easier but still feels like lifting cement .
Found out In have a partial achilles tendon the good leg. have to get some sort of brace on it.
My quality of life is crumbling into dust. I see no hope for the furture.
purplerlover
Posted
And no, I am not going to do anything stupid
Caitibean purplerlover
Posted
Are you in the UK purplelover or in the US? You are entitled to a second opinion on the NHS in the UK. You sound so down that you really should push for more answers and help. I had an enlightening physio appointment today. She showed me how the quad in my operated leg has just depleted and how that is the reason for much of my pain and instability. I was shocked as I was pretty fit and strong before my op but she explained that it had probably depleted over a period of some years as when I was walking, jogging, cycling etc I would have been compensating for my bad knee. And since the op I've been doing it even more, hence increased pain in all muscles trying to compensate for the wasted quad. She has shown me good exercises for the quads and how to really isolate and work on that muscle. I wonder if quad muscle depletion might be part of your problem? Any which way you HAVE to push for answers, explaining it is affecting your physical and mental health. I really do believe you can find some answers and I'm sure you will get through this.