Having knee replacement: how to prepare and questions about PT

@debbraw I have light compression hose. Light is better than none, and not that bothersome. I think they are 15-20.
JK

@niazumbanut

Good morning, I’m a 54 year old female and had a double knee replacement a year ago. I was a competitive volleyball player until 38 and had been an athlete my whole life. I’ve had brain surgery and heart surgery and nothing compared to having TKR’s.
I was used to being able to do everything physically well until this. Very frustrating to see little old ladies kick my ass in PT. You’re not supposed to compare, but I did. Some have a much easier time with scar tissue build up than others. I got to a point where my body instinctively told me that traditional PT wasn’t right for me. For me, the pain was too much. Icing was invaluable as well as a CMT machine. Many Dr’s no longer believe in continuous motion machines, but I think it helped me tremendously.
Looking back I would have used less narcotics. I slept all the time even though I was in a rehab hospital for 3 weeks post surgery. I’d sleep in between the 3 times a day PT sessions. Even dangling my legs more off the bed would have helped. I also would have used the Incumbent bike earlier and more often. I’m now using it more-I can see how moving closer and closer allows me to be in control of increasing my bend.
I switched to lymphatic massage and a Type of PT where they don’t touch you. Instead they encourage you to move with your own bodies resistance. Made me feel more in control, and I was able to push harder. Recently, I tried two unconventional therapies in addition to my electric massager to try to alleviate my nerve pain that I experience at night. One is myofascial release and the other is Acupuncture. I’m in shock but this combination seems to be miraculous for me. I would love to have more bend (I’m at around 115-120) but reducing the pain is life changing.
Most do amazingly well with replacements. Know that everyone is very different and try and find what works for you.

@golfshrink It sounds as if you are doing all of the right things. I have heard amazing things about acupuncture for many different conditions.
Please do not beat yourself up about not doing more when you were in rehab. At the end of rehab you were still in prime time to get that flex back as I was too. I worked hard on it but I too have less than 120 flex. I plan to have a minor procedure that will, from what I understand, snip some of the scar tissue to improve my flex. It's an outpatient procedure, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5800957/. Hopefully it will help.

Beyond having less flex than I would like, the knee is great. I can literally walk miles with no pain and exercise a lot. I also use a recumbent bike and have the seat in the closest position at this point. When I first started with the bike I had to start with it further back and after peddling for a while I would get off and move it forward. Now it is always in that position. That and water exercise are the two things most highly recommended by my orthopedic surgeon.
JK

Thanks so much for your response. Can I ask you how far out of TKR you are? Did the doctors say what kind of recovery to expect? I’m curious if there’s a chance of regression at all. After everything I’ve done, it would be terrible if scar tissue would form quickly again and not help or even reduce my flex. My extension is perfect, which of course I’m happy with. When do you plan on doing your surgery? I’m very curious how things go .

@golfshrink My TKR was on 10.17.2017. We were in NYC for the weekend, starting on 12.07.2017, and I was walking comfortably all over the place when we were there.
I plan to schedule my appointment for the Arthroscopic Lysis of Adhesions in February. They will not put me on the schedule until I have some lab work done and I will do that the second week of February and get an appointment as soon as possible after that. I understand that after the surgery there is a similar recuperation as there is after the TKR, with PT or just exercising on your own.
That's an excellent question about possible regression. I will have to ask them that. I will try to keep you up on things in February.
JK

I had TKR on left knee in September and I can’t completely straighten my knee and I worked hard at PT and at home. I now have one leg way longer then right leg and now hips and back killing me. I found copper insoles and put it in right shoe. It’s taking pressure off of left knee and leg but still is a little off and feels awkward to walk with but I’m desperate for help! I just left a message to the Dr that did surgery and more PT isn’t going to help the fact that one leg is longer! I don’t want my hips to go bad so this has helped me. Any suggestions from you or anyone out there since you have had it done? I’m new here too!

friend had the same problem and had to have his hip replaced. Not he news your looking for . He then had to have his other knee replaced.

@jillypooh I have never heard of the length of a leg changing from a TKR. I think the best thing to do is to immediately get some type of insert to lengthen the shorter leg so you do not damage your hips.
I also have never heard of copper insoles. Is the thickness of this enough to offset the difference in length, or is it copper because copper is supposed to help with certain things?
JK

Hi @jillypooh - Welcome to Connect! There are a lot of great people here who are helpful and caring in sharing their experience. I'm going to say that 3 or 4 months is still a little early in the healing process. I think you will continue to gain extension and flexion as you exercise. For me, I continued to improve for months. I hope you will too.

I agree with @contentandwell JK that I haven't heard of that particular outcome in a TKR, however, there was a discussion about changes is leg length due to a hip replacement. You might check out this link:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/does-any-one-know-if-you-have-a-hip-replacement-1-leg/?pg=1#comment-31704

As you will see there there is an NIH study mentioned that addresses the issue of "limb discrepancy:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4094096/

I'm curious about how you determined that there was a difference in length? I know when I had my TKR and was working on leg extension it would have been really painful to try to measure my leg length. Also curious as to what your physical therapist says? Does he/she have any advice? Please keep us posted as to what the doctor says when you get in touch with him. Wishing you the best.