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Scar tissue after knee replacement
Joint Replacements | Last Active: Oct 10 8:31am | Replies (1550)Comment receiving replies
Mine was in August. Was told by PT and Doc that scar tissue is your body's way of protecting a 'hurt.' It may take 1 to 2 years to convince your body that you don't need 'protecting' as much. Break it up EVERY DAY. Move it constantly; little even helps (like 1 inch swinging it back and forth). My scar tissue has slowed down and now I deal with the muscle that runs from your hip over your quad, ACROSS THE KNEE CAP, tightening up and pushing down on the knee cap. That really hurts; we stretch it out at PT more than bending. I stretch it out across the bed, the couch, as I walk, etc. See anatomy pics to get a clearer pic of what is happening. Swelling in the quad hurts the knee cap. This pain is due to me actually beginning to live my life; sometimes I overdo it. Even walking too much without a cane an trigger huge pain in kneecap area. So now NAPROXEN helps (tylenol not quite strong enough) but don't need opioids as it isn't nerve pains, it's pressure on kneecap. So keep going to PT and stretch those quads every few hours just like you did ice in the beginning. It may take 1 to 2 YEARS. Hang in. Learning as I go.
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Hello,
I don't know all the issue with your circumstances but you may want to ask your PT about some manual therapy- my professional experience and from personal experience is that you can stretch and stretch (with no results) but until you release the underlying tissue (fascia)- your issue will continue. Some examples of manual therapy include: cupping, instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM), or Rock Blade- there are a few other types of this, use of foam roller, or even deep tissue work.
I don't know how they exactly measure the amount of scar tissue nor how they determine it's no longer forming. My clinical experience is that this is very subjective but a therapist can manually feeling tissue tightness. But everyone has their own degree of scar tissue formation due to the degree of collagen in their body and how those bonds form after trauma. I feel fortunate to have not have this issue specifically but I do have less then desired outcomes after my knee replacement, now coming up on two years. If you are not icing after you stretch, you should check with your PT about that as for me, even two years later, ice is still the most helpful for pain management. Better than any medication- prescription or over the counter.