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After 13 months TKR knee still warm and slightly swollen
I’m 70 years old and had total left knee replacement February 16, 2023. I had a partial right in 2019 and with both I did very well in Rehab. With this left one I was told it could take a year to fully heal.
Since the surgery I’ve always had some tenderness from above my knee to half way down my calf. It just feels bruised and scraped and I still have some pain in my knee area.
For a few weeks last fall it finally felt pretty good and at times the warmth was almost gone. Then in December it flared back up and at my year checkup appointment I saw my PA who said my x-rays look good. She was concerned about the warmth and tenderness and ordered a Sed Rate and C-Reactive Protein blood tests, both which came back fine. She put me on a 15 day regimen of Prednisone which helped a bit for a couple weeks but now I feel just as bad as before. Also I now have two bony knobby places that aren’t on the right one
Is this normal after 13 months?
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I hear that. Long arduous process and now my revision, at two years old, is already to start to hurt more rather than less. I know they don't have the lifespan of a replacement, but I sure hope it's going to be more than two years. These knee replacements have not helped the quality of my life, I'm afraid. Disappointing.
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1 ReactionYeah first of all, tennis is an impact sport and is not recommended post TKR, at 2 weeks or 2 years.
And no one who has a TKR is playing tennis two weeks later. That is pure fiction.
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1 ReactionOh my. What an ordeal. Glad he’s doing much better!
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1 ReactionI’m sure he still had residual pain, but after 5 years of pain and inflammation he was ready to move.
Defiantly not fiction.
Some people recover better / faster than others. I did not say that his doctor encouraged him to play tennis 2 weeks after surgery. I said that he was back on the tennis court 2 weeks after surgery.
I am sure you will believe that this is fiction too. It is not. I had a robotically assisted left TKR in 2022. (I had done exceedingly well with a robotically assisted right TKR in 2018). My surgeon agreed that I did not have to stay overnight in the hospital if I could walk (with a walker) around the entire post op area. I did, and I went home. 3 days later I walked into PT without a walker. I did 2 weeks of PT and was discharged. Even my surgeon was surprised. A year after surgery I was walking 5 miles a day but I really wanted to get back to running. At my 1 year follow up, I asked if running would damage the knees. I was told that it would likely wear the replacements out a bit sooner, but if I really wanted to he was supportive of it. (My TKRs are both titanium.). I now alternate between walking and running every other day. I have been doing this for 10 months and my knees are in great shape. As I said, different people recover differently.
I am so sorry that you are struggling with your TKR. I was told by both my surgeon and my PT that some people’s bodies just cope with joint replacements better than others. It is nothing special or magical that they are doing differently.
I had fluid drawn from my knee to culture it. Culture was negative for bacteria but the fluid was bloody instead of clear. No idea why.
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1 ReactionI might agree with that except I’ve had both knees done by the same surgeon and with the same implant. One healed fine - no pain & full range of motion. The other one has hurt, swelled & has less range of motion since the day of surgery.
When was your surgery?
I’ve found that ice helps too. Tylenol and ibuprofen do not. At least not at this time.