Having knee replacement: how to prepare and questions about PT

@chris trout I do have an ice machine, but I've been doing research about heat and ice. Some surgeons and PTs believe that ice is best for acute injury, right after surgery, for example. However, inflammation is the first step in healing. The body sends blood to the injury to begin to heal it. This is a common theme in Chinese medicine, which is not so enthusiastic about cold. Not sure how much ice I will use after initial days...

@babette You just made me remember, my surgeon was not a big advocate of icing because it prevents the healing blood from going to the site that is healing. I don’t remember if he said no ice or limited. I think for the first two or three weeks he didn’t want me to ice or to use heat! I know that’s radical but his success rate and patient satisfaction rate are both very high.
JK

@contentandwell Having met your surgeon, I have no trouble believing this! I'm going to request no ice and see what my surgeon says. Dr. WF also doesn't endorse painful PT - gentle is OK.

@babette. Exactly. My outpatient physical therapist was lost with “gentle PT”, but my in-house one had worked with his patients before and respected it because he knew the success of his patients.
JK

Has anyone out there had to get a revision if so place tell me how it went. I had a partial knee replacement which has come loose so they want to remove it a d put in a full knee replacement asap. Please let me know if anyone had this done and how you are doing

Hi @kneeproblem, you may have noticed I moved your post to this existing discussion on knee replacements so that you can connect with others who have similar experiences such as @contentandwell @emb123 and @babette. Simply click VIEW & REPLY in your email notification to get to your post.

Have you set a date yet for the full knee replacement?

@kneeproblem @ethanmcconkey I have two very successful TKRs, no revisions. My biggest problem is that I did not reach the flex I hoped to reach, but my flex is not abysmal. One knee is slightly over 120 and the other is slightly under that.

I wish I could offer some help but I have not had to be very informed about revisions. My only advice is to get a second opinion, from a highly regarded orthopedic surgeon who is at a different hospital than the hospital that your original surgeon is on staff at.
JK

@babette Hi, we haven't heard from you since your surgery. How is everything going? I hope the surgery was a huge success for you and that you are on the road to recovery. I have been thinking about you and watching for posts from you.
JK

@contentandwell I was going to post today and I'm glad you nudged me! I'm on day 13 and had a great surgery experience and hospital stay. It's completely different, in a good way, this time! I had a nerve block/spinal and woke up with my head clear as a bell, so I highly recommend that. I do have pain and the surgeon wants me to wean from the narcotics so I have some trepidation... We'll talk on November 6 when I see him to have my sutchers removed. I'm lucky to have the same PT coming to my house 3X per weekend; she really motivates me, which I need! And, assuming I can drive at 4 weeks, I'll transfer to an outpatient PT facility I really like. So things are going really well. Thanks for asking! 🙂

That's great, @babette. I was beginning to get a little worried since we hadn't heard from you. I loved my in-house PT person too, he was great.
I am sure you will be all set to drive. You must feel so relieved to be doing so well, I am relieved for you.
Keep us up on your progress, I'm sure it will be great. You took great care in making sure you had a top surgeon at a fabulous hospital. That is a huge part of the battle I think.
JK