← Return to Knee and muscle pain; also a 14 year old hip replacement...related?

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@mnpat

Hello all. I am now on the other side of the mountain and heading downhill! Had TKR on Feb. 21. Talked with anesthesiologist in the "holding room. After explaining my concerns we agreed on spinal, femoral nerve block and light sedation...I'm not sure what he used but he said OK, no VERSED. I didn't have problems post-op, although I noticed a few times that I was not as quick as usual.
3 nights in the hospital, then transferred to rehab center with great reputation for physical therapy....they are great...sometimes 4 sessions per day (2 PGT, 2 OT) I have now been here a week and will go home in 2 days. Continuing outpatient therapy is already scheduled with a PT I saw prior to surgery.

The PTs here have been extremely pleased with my progress and even my status on the very first day. I attribute that to the fact that I had been doing most of the exercises to strengthen legs and knee for at least a month prior to surgery. When I arrived at rehab I already was at a bend of 85 degrees and am now up to 106. The therapy is not as bad as I expected.....the worst is the few minutes when you try to achieve the maximum bend.

I know improvement will continue to be gradual and expect it to be at least a year to get to maximum. Actually my hip kept gradually improving for a full two years.
Best wishes to any of you contemplating total knee replacement!

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Replies to "Hello all. I am now on the other side of the mountain and heading downhill! Had..."

Thank you for coming back and updating us @mnpat. Awesome to hear that everything went well and the surgeons listened to your concerns and came up with a plan that all involved were comfortable with. Keep at the PT!

@mnpat, you said you are already at 106 degrees for bend!? That is already pretty spectacular, but how much bend are you and your physical therapist aiming for?

The rehab center and my physical therapist talked about a goal of 120 degrees. When I had my staples out, the orthopedic assistant looked up some data on my implant (Zimmer nexgen) and found out that the implant was designed for up to 155 degrees. Didn't say anything about whether that was after it had been implanted in a real person!