Worse after physical therapy

Back off....not bad off!

I'm in the US. When I go to pt I see two different therapists (it all depends on the day). One therapist is very aggressive with the bending while the other one is more interested in massaging the scar tissue. Because I had the manipulation my surgeon made it very clear to the therapists that they should be aggressive with the bending which hurts like hell to avoid any adhesions from reforming.

The stiffness and swelling usually lasts several days and I really don't take any days off. The days I don't go to pt I do all the same exercises at home minus the forced knee bending. Now that I'm reading what I just wrote I'm thinking the aggressive knee bending by my therapist may be the issue but then I wonder why my surgeon would write that on the script. He actually wrote aggressive flexion with three exclamation points after it. He was very adamant that they focus on bending my knee. 

I think we have less frequent physio in UK also, I had a lovely community physio coming once a week from around 2 weeks post op.

At 8 weeks post op i started a weekly rehabilitation class at a local hospital, again on NHS. Good timing for me as I then got more challenging exercises to do at the point where I was starting to have a bit more energy. It was fun...a complete laugh. You need a sense of humour for certain.

Again, never the slightest suggestion that I should be causing myself needless pain. On one occasion I over did it and leg was red and swollen...message = you have done too much. Listen to knee. If swelling and redness increases and it is still there the next day, you have overdone things.

Getting swelling down along and rest, plenty of icing, along with keeping knee moving and gently nudging along the range of motion was the message I picked up from the way my rehabilitation was managed. Patience is essential from all concerned.

I wonder if sometimes targets for insurance purposes or hospital statistics might have something to do with things being rushed along in US? Really don't know, but deadlines do appear to be much tighter?

You may like to go to my profile by clicking on the image next to my name. I kept a journal of my own knee replacement journey, and I have been told by several people they found it helpful to read, or skim through. It was written to convey the need for patience, something our culture in the western world is not really geared up to! It has a lot of useful suggestions and information. I did not have an MUA, and can obviously only give a perspective based on my one personal experience, but I have no doubt that professional opinions on the matter vary, and physiotherapists and how they work certainly do.

I think getting another professional opinion is an excellent idea!

Hi MarieMichelle,

When I said days off, I meant days off from actually going to pt. I do my exercises every day at home and the only difference is that I don't have the therapists here forcing my knee to bend until tears start forming in my eyes. My one therapist actually said she has to bend my knee until I'm on the verge of tears. I'm just afraid if they go easy my scar tissue will get ahead of me and form adhesions again.

It's really interesting how so many people don't have there knees forced into a bend by their pt. I wonder if its just an American doctor thing. I see my doctor in 6 weeks but if this keeps happening I may go for a second opinion. I do A LOT of heel slides lol, every day but it's so much harder the couple of days after going to pt. My pt was actually a bit concerned when I went today and told her what was going on and didn't push me today which I was very thankful for.

Agree with Robin, the heel slides at home really helped me a lot as well and agree Wicca, it is an American thing, my PT bends my knee as well, almost to tears but after a week of doing that my bend went from 70-90 so its worth it but very painful... definitely a long road for us .. not what i expected at all.. good luck to you and let us know how you are doing next week. My only advice is ice ice ice - i ice at least 8 hours a day and fall asleep every night with an ice pack on my elevated knee .. that has seemed to help a lot for me.. 

They use to push it was awful. Freaked me out so now they don’t cause it was just too stressful for me. That had to stop. I am in USA

I think it is a US thing!

In UK forcing isn't done as far as I am aware.

You can push the knee a bit yourself and listen to your body.

If it gets swollen it isn't going to bend...like a hosepipe full of water doesn't bend.

Also keeping swelling down is important part of rehabilitation.

Listen to your knee, as you are keeping on the case with your home exercises you are doing the work.

I am not surprised the PT backed off when hearing about after effects. Be assertive when you need to, and clearly say when things are too much and counterproductive. They can only do what you give permission for them to do. It's one of those situations where you decide who has ultimate responsibility for what happens, and in the end, it is your choice.

My goodness, is that a manipulation at dancing ...MAD for short!😀