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Spacer replacement 4 years after TKR
Has anyone been told their plastic spacer is too thin and should be replaced? My knee has been having all kinds of pain, pinching and burning sensations for months now. Xray shows implants are stable, but the spacer may be too thin and gives me the unstable feeling. Surgeon suggests going in and replacing, but not a fan of surgery. Anyone have it done? Successful? Wished they didn't? Thanks for any comments.
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I am having a hard time finding information regarding spacer replacement surgery and recovery expectations. All the literature seems to be on either TKR or replacements due to infection. My 10 year old KR dislocated due to accident. It tore my posterior ligament so is unstable. I am scheduled in 2 months for new spacers but want to know what recovery and PT was like.
Hi,
Thanks for sending the link to the article. I may be contacting the authors to see if they can recommend someone in Northern California who has done arthroscopic work after a TKR. I don't want them just going in with the camera without knowing what the problem is. All the surgeons I have seen, 4 total, either do not know what the problem is and recommend a revision or say that is the way it is. This is my last hope for meaningful pain relief. I did myofascial release therapy for my IT band for a few months and it didn't do anything. There is definitely an impingement going on. keep you posted.
I wanted to give everybody an update. I had my revision surgery on October 1. I am doing so well and I am so glad I did the revision surgery. I have less pain walking now two weeks after surgery than I did before the surgery. When I met with my surgeon before the surgery, we talked about replacing my 10 mm spacer with an 11 or 12. In the end they ended up using a 14 because there was that much play in my joint when they opened it up. I had very little scar tissue and my inflammation had come down so well for my first total knee replacement, which created a lot of space. I just wanted to put some positive positive here because revision surgery is very scary. You have no idea what the outcome is going to be, but I trusted my surgeon that he said all the people he’s done revision for which are very few were very happy with the results. I can say that it was a good experience on my end.
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4 ReactionsI had a spacer replaced. I felt the initial pain was as bad for a few days. However the physical therapy was easier and results faster. Generally the recovery was easier and faster.
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3 ReactionsHow far away from your initial surgery were you and are you make it female. I've been having problems from the start now almost 5 months. 2nd opinion doc says I have patellar Clunk syndrome or the wrong size spacer or patellar button. When did you become aware something was not right and what were your symptoms? and what was the opinion of your surgeon at first.?
I am a female, any my TKR was a little over a year ago, 7/21/23. I knew around 5-6 months that something wasn’t right. Had a lot of things in my knee. Which surgeon said that was normal. He said let’s see if it’s still there a year. But I was the information continue to come down in my body and I had very little scar tissue. It was very apparent that something was wrong. I’m actually walking in the north now after that revisions so then I was after my TKR at the year mark. Started at the typically unless there’s something major wrong don’t do anything until the year. I hope this helps. Feel free to ask me any other questions.