In my experience (I also had the lysis), the P.T. was not as painful as it was originally, you are working through the scar tissue and not the surgery, but, it has to be almost constant. I configured a bike of ours into a stationary bike. After the lysis, I set the timer for three hours and woke myself up every three hours and biked for 10 minutes. Had office P.T. every day and did PT at home several times a day. The knee is not perfect but can do about everything I want. Pushing hard I can get 130 degrees.

With me, I found hydrotherapy very beneficial following the arthroscopic lysis surgery, and was in the pool 36 hours post op. The physio was not nearly as bad as it was following the TKR, I spent hours either trying to dangle my legs off the dining room table, or trying to pedal on an excercise bike. I experienced neuropathic pain, had my dosages of baclofen and amitriptyline increased and was able to bend my knee.
My knee bend still is not ideal at 96 degrees even at 4 months following the lysis surgery and nearly 10 months following my TKR. I have been told by my physio that my knee bend might never improve which is a great disappointment as I am relatively young (53).

@contentandwell - after the orginunal TKR - my PT was about 1.5 -2 hours a day and was half strength and half stretching. That is a far cry from the one hour stretching 5 times a day that my PT after the lysis was for the first 2 weeks. With the lysis I then went to 6 hours (3 sessions a day) of mostly stretching with about 30 mins walking and 10 mins on an elliptical or bike. Yesterday - he moved me to 2 sessions (and reduced the work) - so I think I’m now down to 2 or 2.5 hours a day - which is more in line with my TKR. (I’m 8 weeks out from the lysis more). I go to see him 3x a week and his sessions are 2 hours. After the TKR my session with him were 2x a week for an hour.

The surgeon also told me I would be out of work for 2-3 weeks after the surgery. I was out 6 for this due to the PT level and how exhausted I felt. Even now - I’m only back at work 6 hours a day. That will last until I’m at 12 weeks.

I thought long and hard and did a ton of research before I had this done. My surgeon Is the football and soccer team surgeon for a major university in Texas. I use his recommended PT. I’m 54 and just couldn’t live the way I was. I promised both my surgeon and PT I would do exactly as they said and ONLY that. The forced stretching up until this week had me in tears until this week because it’s that different from the TKR. However - it’s working. I came out of the lysis surgery at 132 and can almost do that myself now. PT only gave me a little push yesterday.