Has your therapist done deep tissue massage? Very painful but it eventually worked for me. I have had both knees replaced. Recovery can be a long process.

Did everything and just quit and moved on. Swollen knee etc. got better over time but still swells do a lot of biking in warm weather and lost 20 pounds. Tat seemed to help.

@kibe75,

I had a right TKR in 2006. My recovery was awful. It was a combination of many factors: I wasn't aggressive enough on my rehab, the pain was intense and made rehab difficult, and I had really aggressive scar tissue growth. I ended up having to have two manipulations because my range-of-motion post replacement was a dismal 15-60 or so. Eventually I "popped" the scar tissue loose on my own, on accident, and my range-of-motion has been 0-105/110 ever since.

I learned then, and especially now on these threads, that we are all so much different. We heal differently, we react to medications differently, our bodies grow scar tissue at different rates. All I can say for certain is stick with it and keep pushing yourself. Try not to get too discouraged and quit. In total, my recovery was well over a year, but I got there. I have had no setbacks and virtually no pain in my right knee for the past 12 years.

@kibe75, how is your mobility on the knee? Are you able to use a stationary bike?

At physical therapy today, he measured me at 8-116...an improvement of 1 degree in each direction from last week. I've been able to ride an exercise bike for the past week or so. What I'm more frustrated with is my therapist thinks I'm doing ok since I'm still seeing progress, but the physician assistant at my surgeon's office acted like I should be back to pre-surgery of 0-130. 
I'm definitely not going to quit and I'm going to keep giving it my all. I called my surgeon on Monday because the weekend was so bad with pain and couldn't sleep because of it, but was told there was nothing they could do and to just keep with it. Called my family doctor (more for something to help me sleep and for depression), and she refilled my pain medication since she thinks it's all related back to pain. 

@kibe75, In my own opinion, 8-116 is nothing to beat yourself up over. Heck, I'm 11 years out and was never able to reach 116 degrees. I'd be encouraged that you are gaining, even if it is slow. The pain will get better as things settle down more and level out, it just took time. I know the feeling though. The pain I experienced from my replacement was like steady, but intense rolling waves crashing to shore. It was a relentless throbbing for me that would be dulled with pain medications but never fully subside. It did get better, and now I have no pain, compared to the daily level 10 pain I had in the knee pre-surgery. I'm glad your family doctor was able to get you some refills to help with your pain. Trying to do physical therapy and rehab while in excessive pain made the recovery so much more difficult because you don't want to do you your exercises.

i reached 121 and PT wanted more. Been about 5 years and still have some pain after golf and walking so i ride a bike. That seems to be the best for me. I was told i needed the left done and i said who me? Momma didn't raise a dummy. I went to stem cells. Tends to work, sometimes pain but no arthritis in knee and the knee brace they give you to work out in and play golf etc really works. If i had a do over i would have had stems done on both knees. I hear all the arguments. Expensive, how long will it last, etc so i will see how it goes. 2 years and doing fine. My DR said a client from France came over for it. One thing to beware of make sure the drs are trained in it. I notice chiropractors etc are doing it. Be careful out there and do your homework if u opt for stem cells.

I just joined this group. 9 weeks ago I underwent a total knee replacement with my right knee. My extension was pretty much lost before surgery and it has been a very painful 2 month journey of PT appointments. These are hell on earth. I scream and writhe in pain. It is awful. Now I have plenty of scar tissue to deal with as well as the end of an infection due to dissolvable stitches not dissolving. I am on a 3rd course of antibiotics. Some days the pain level is okay. After PT I am a mess. Cancelling events appointments etc. this has had a huge impact on my life and just getting back to normal. I guess my question is. Should I seek out an acupuncturist or homeopathic manipulator. My other knee was replaced 9 years ago and I experienced none of these problems. Am open to any ideas. Thanks.

Saw my surgeon today for a follow up, I'm now 11 weeks out from my partial knee replacement, I was doing really good until Friday. I left PT that day feeling so good about things, I measured 2-120, almost to where I needed to be. Went to work (I work at a hospital), and was telling my co-workers how well everything was goint, then was walking down the hall and felt like my knee gave out with intense pain. I limped to my desk and called my physical therapist. He said he thought the pain might be some scar tissue breaking up since we were finally getting into new territory with my range of motion. Over the weekend, the pain would come and go getting progressively worse each time. Monday at physical therapy he still thought it was from scar tissue, but could definitely fell that i was in more pain. He didn't measure me on Monday because he knew I wouldn't be happy with the numbers since I went backwards some. He worked more on some tissue massage than he has since the surgery, in addition to the other things we have been doing.

After a couple of nights with hardly any sleep, I called my surgeon's office and talked with a triage nurse who recommended I move my 1w wk appt up to today to make sure nothing else was going on. X-ray and everything look good. My surgeon said it is common to slide backwards periodically. While he wasn't as hard on me as his PA was 5 wks ago, he did say I needed to continue to be very aggressive in physical therapy. In his office today i measured 5-120.

My surgeon restarted me on neurotin hoping that it will help the pain at night so I can sleep. I see him again in a month. He said in no uncertain terms that i have to get my extension back to 0 since that is what it was when I left the operating room.

I'm getting tired if dealing with all the pain, but am very thankful for supportive co-workers who understand that some days I just can't do it and need to leave early.

Hey You are doing great compared to many others sounds like you just need to hang in there and you’re in going in the right direction I’m envious

Oh thanks for that. I really try. It seems like my life is centered around rehabbing this crazy knee. And it's 9 weeks out. Who knew? The gym helps. Leg press and leg extension machines. Also hanging a 5 pound ankle weight and lying face down on a bed with knee hanging off. Really works. Do this 8 minutes. Not easy but do this bit by bit.