Typically I'm awake by 4am now that I'm in recovery from TKR surgery. My ambition to get up to speedfarexceedsmyabilities

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not getting this?

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  • Posted

    Lack of sleep is a common problem after TKR. This is a tough recovery and can take in excess of a year for full recovery so don't panic. Things will improve, but it's often slow and little victories can mean a lot. I remember being thrilled when I could put a pair of trousers on standing up!

  • Posted

    "My ambition to get up to speed far exceeds my abilities"

    Really? Did you just hit that brick wall that we all encountered? Kind of shocking when you do. I recovered from two shoulder scopes, four knee scopes and a hip replacement in almost no time at all. Pushed the hell out of my rehab time and cut the typical recovery periods by almost 2/3rds. When I had the knee done, I expected the same. The problem completely lies with word "expected"...

    This is where virtually everyone of us went wrong. I even told my bandmates that I'd definitely do a gig the following Saturday. DELUSIONAL!!! Actually, I was still drooling on my pajama at six weeks!!! This is simple: Push the knee and its swells like a balloon...guaranteed. Once you do it, you hopefully learn the lesson and stop pushing the knee. This recovery takes time, work and patience...

    Time: A typical recovery takes a full year. Why? The knee has to heal at its own rate in its own time plus you have to rebuild quads, glutes, core, hip flexors and more in order to do stairs normally again. Go ahead...put your TKR leg/foot on the next step and go up without holding onto anything. No? Quads are dead...gotta rebuild them...and that takes time and...

    Work: First month or two you do the ROM work to get back to at least 0 / +120. After that, it takes months to rebuild the dead musculature...and that takes...

    Patience: This is the hardest thing to do...truly. You want to go faster with your recovery and can't because the knee will just keep swelling and setting you back every time you push it. So it takes a lot of patience to relax, give it time, do the work and give up your expectations. That's really difficult when you want to shift from 1st gear directly into 5th. Not gonna happen. So be more Zen: "My knee will be better when it's better." Just accept it and be patient.

    Hang this on your fridge...

    Reality

    Remember, a year from now you will be doing just fine and this will all seem like a bad dream.

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