Hot Diggity's knee replacement thread

I have moves like that now, but only when my walker is out of reach.

 

As I suspected, the best physical therapy for my knee is getting back to normal life and doing stuff. By yesterday evening I was driving confidently using only my right foot on gas and brake. Today I can do more than just barely lift my foot to put a sock on, I can lift the leg straight out from a seated position.

The inability to lift the foot over or around objects on the floor has been the most annoying thing about the operation. Now that I can lift my foot up and move it under control I can move on to the #2 most annoying issue. Weight bearing.

Standing around or working in a narrow kitchen I can do fine. With nothing to hold onto and taking longer strides I'm not yet confident that I won't fall.

 

I thought it was a little odd to have a week and a half off between physical therapy appointments, but this seems to be the time when I can go on auto-pilot and make progress on my own. The Steri-strips are slowly losing their grip on my big incision, so they should be gone by my next appointment. The scar is healing well.

I've fully transitioned to a cane, and leave it behind often enough in the house that I can see a day coming soon when it won't be necessary.

I loaded ,160 pounds of horse bedding onto a cart and into the truck just fine. Standing and working is easy. Kneeling, crawling and getting off the floor are huge challenges still.

I got down on the living room floor to take a picture of some flowers and it took me a second to work out the necessary maneuvers to get up again.
I've been eating at a new restaurant in New Bern every chance I get and I haven't been drinking light beer. Couple the good food with my lack of exercise and it's easy to understand the extra ten pounds I see on the scale.

I'm moving a little more easily each day. Getting on my bike for a test ride may happen this weekend. There are few hills around here and all my bikes have super low hill climbing gears so it won't be much strain.

Flexing past 90 degrees is easy now, and it's just the stiffness that bothers me now. I have a few dimples in my knee that I think are dissolving stitches that haven't yet. I read up on them and I see that it could take two weeks to six Months for them to dissolve.

The thing I miss most about physical therapy at this point is their reassurance that everything is going as it should.

 

Sounds like you are making good progress each day will get better. In my case 8 weeks into it because my leg was so bent the tendons all shrunk and have to be stretched back to normal. I can get my keg straight but I can still feel the tightness behind my knee. My leg still goes back to being bent, have to think about not doing that bad habits are hard to break my PT keeps telling me.

 

I had a 19 degree bend that's pretty much gone. What's strange is that the leg with the new knee now feels a good bit too long. Physical therapy tells me this is normal and will feel more normal with time.

I have found myself sleeping on my side, walking without my cane in the house, climbing stairs and riding my bicycle. I rode about a mile this morning, just short of four weeks from the surgery. Looking forward to putting more miles on the bike.

 

It sounds like you're killin' it, but don't rush things. I made that mistake after foot surgery. It was a dumb move.

 

I was on pace with my recovery. Was, until 0500 on December 19 when I woke up screaming in pain. I had moved somehow in my sleep and woke up feeling like somebody had shoved a hot spear into my knee.

Looking for the best way to explain it I went through Pop, crack. snap, and twang. Twang seems best. It feels like somebody is plucking my nerves with a banjo pick.

I was at 120 degrees bend with little pain. Now I can barely make 90 degrees and it hurts. I'm waiting to see if physical therapy tells me this is normal.

 

Put plenty of ice on it, I still wake up some nights with knee pain if I sleep the wrong way. Is your knee still swollen? Sorry to hear of the set back hopefully its only temporary.

 

Ouch,,, I hope its nothing out of the ordinary. ,, I diidn't have anything like that happen to me .

 

Physical therapist explained what had happened.
I have Illio-Tibial Band Syndrome. She assured me that not all knee replacement healing is linear. There could be ups and downs, but it will get better.

The Illio Tibial band can become irritated by the necessary stretching to restore function after such an invasive surgery. Combined with the now corrected range of motion of the knee as everything is stretched out, it can rub against the bones and cause sharp pain in the outside of the knee. I may have rotated the leg just right in my sleep while all the muscles were relaxed, to start this irritation.

The solution is to take it easy, but as she put it in another of those memorable physical therapist one liners. "Don't do nothing."
This sounded odd, but she explained that doing nothing would not help it heal. I have to keep gently moving and stretching. Teaching the muscles how they should work. Perfect practice. Some massage of the band with a rolling pin and heat above the knee also help.

I can still walk confidently without my cane around the house, but I take it everywhere outside where I might encounter steps, slopes or uneven ground.

More PT on Friday, so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully I'll get back to the point where I can get my right leg into the car more easily and not have to swing it in first and drag it out behind me when I get out.

 

Those hamstring tendons area bitch to stretch back to normal now that the leg is straight. Same here I can walk without the cane but if I go out take it with me (my security). Sounds like you got a good PT slow and easy

 

I'm 11 months into mine replacement ,,and still keep a cane in the truck and in the house . Just in case .
' Don't do nothing " ,, I like that .

 

I always said ,,, once you get good at something ,, no sense in quitting .

 

Today was a good day. I had physical therapy early and easily made it to 120 degrees of bend.
Physical Therapist added a few new exercises and I found new pain right below the knee cap. More of a burn.

I felt worse after physical therapy, but went on a long walk around an antique mall and Lowe's that loosened the knee up.

It was 65 and sunny with no breeze when I got home, so I broke out the bike and went for a ride.
That same burning below the knee cap returned, but faded away after a couple miles. I did five miles total, mostly in top gear. The knee feels great, and it was good to get my heart rate up.

I think I'll put my folding pimp cane (it's purple with flowers and butterflies) on the cargo rack just in case, but it was great to be on the road.

 

I stopped by the local habitat store today ,, checking out the bikes they had ,, been thinking of getting one ,, but they didn't have one to fit my tall frame . The only one they had close enough was an old 10 speed with the handle bars that rolled under . Will keep checking . Been thinking I really need to get out and be more active ,, not just at work .

 

I know what you mean about bikes that don't fit, or styles that don't work any more.

I spent lots of time on a 20" Schwinn Varsity with drop handlebars. That was forty years ago.

When I started having trouble walking I adopted the two 20" sprung frame mountain bikes with low rise bars that the boys had left in the garage. They're good for short trips, but are a little too small. Even with the seat all the way up I have to bend my knee too much to be comfortable.

My big bike is a 24" Raleigh with a traditional rigid frame and flat bars. I have a long torso and short legs for my height. I can barely straddle the center tube, and the seat is all the way down, but once I'm on the pedals it's perfect. I could ride this thing all day.

Bikes and swimming or running in the 4' sports pool may be the lowest impact exercise I can get.

 

Okay, the burning below the knee cap made sense because there's probably some tissue connected there that hasn't done any work in a while.

Today I experienced a totally new sensation. It fells like an ice cube has melted and dripped onto my trousers just above the knee. I found myself looking and feeling for wetness. That Woman, who is the poster girl for nerve damage tells me that it's nerves waking up.

I've had nerve damage in my back, feet, neck and hands, but never a chilly sensation like this! Wow!

 

It looks like the internal (infernal?) stitches in the top of the knee have finally let go. That could explain the ice water sensation in that area that I've had occasionally for the past two days. The dimples in the yop of the leg are smoothing out and I can get to 120+ degrees of bend with little strain.

I'm going to keep pushing it and seeing what I can do. The suffering after days when I go too far is becoming shorter and the gains are starting to be much more satisfying. I cleared it with my physical therapist, and I really need to explore putting the knee on the deck, low sitting (I had done this with the right leg to the side, and feel like this will still work) and stretching into rifle shooting positions.

I'm starting to enjoy 2023 already.