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Total knee replacement problems
I am really hoping someone can help. I had a total knee replacement 3 years ago (age 48) due to a motorcycle accident in my teens. I am in more pain than I was before. My knee constantly feels like there is an ace bandage wrapped around it. It is very tight, stiff, and painful. I did all of the PT and still can't straighten my knee any further than I could before. I have been back to my doctor twice about this problem and have gone to see a different doctor, and they both tell me some patients just don't do so well with knee replacements. This can't be the only answer! I am 51 years old and struggle to accept the fact that I will have to deal with this for the rest of my life. I have very tiny bones. I had a disc replaced in my neck and had to go back in 2 weeks later to have it replaced with a specially ordered disc because the smallest one this particular manufacturer makes was too big for me. It makes me think this might be the issue with my knee as well. Any advice?
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Yes it is encouraged I had to go every day for a week ….unfortunately in my situation I made it two days than my pt told me stay home ice and elevate…. I had mua at 4 weeks when I had wrong size knee , so definitely why it hurt me more than helped ..,, the only thing that helped me was having a revision at one year mark ….
I will need TKR, but my leg is a full inch shorter than the other. Does anybody know how this will affect my TKR and my recovery?
How is your ROM?
Ask for an MRI!
Talk to your surgeons about what the options are. Is the TKR being done on the shorter leg? And how do you accommodate the difference now?
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1 Reactiongood luck--and God Bless your outcome
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1 ReactionThe surgery will be on the shorter leg. I lived with a shorter leg for 70 years. We just discovered this fact 3 years ago. I suppose it explains the huge issues I had with back pain all my life. I tried ant-inflammatory pills, then I went to natural products glucosamine, collagen etc... then I added exercises, physiotherapy , essentrics. My shorter leg is now also crooked due to the degenerative arthritis ....I'm a mess...I only saw my doctor once for 10 minutes and I have been on the waiting list for the surgery for 1 year (Canada health system) ...I will try to insist in seeing him again before the surgery to answer my questions. Does the surgery fix a crooked leg?
Since my revision I am at 100 before as at 65-70
Replying to lj1952.
First to say I am so sorry for your fall.
I might go on a bit but I am at month 4 TKR. It has been a miserable recovery experience. My PO X-rays and doctor plus PT say surgery went well.
The thing is recovery. I am acutely aware of this knee. My functionality is poor bc I do not trust it. One hypothesis is that I am treating the surgery as tho I had amputation and mourning the loss of my real knee. It has been a struggle. I continue to improve with range of motion etc. but just can’t get past how stiff and unnatural the knee is.
PT is guessing I will need a year to feel more at ease.
And yes I am also mourning my old days with yoga. Child’s pose is gone forever.
I DO NOT want my second knee done!
Sending empathy.
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5 ReactionsThat’s great- hopefully you’ll gain a little more over time. I’m at where you were (65-70) and have upcoming scar tissue removal + partial revision. Praying that I will have a favorable outcome. Good luck….. and carry on!