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Scar tissue after knee replacement

Posted by leithlane @leithlane, Jan 31, 2017

I had knee replacement surgery 6 weeks ago . Through PT I have been working on breaking up the scar tissue only for it to regrow by the time I get back to PT two days later. I have been massaging at home, using a hand held massager and roller. It is painful and swollen. I am getting very disheartened. Any suggestions as to what else I can do. Has anyone had laser treatments to break up scar tissue? Were they effective?

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wendim | @wendim | Dec 8, 2019
In reply to @irol "This is Lori. I had written before about neuropathy. My foot pain seems to be getting..." + (show)
@irol

This is Lori. I had written before about neuropathy. My foot pain seems to be getting better very slowly. Neurologist, podiatrist, foot and ankle orthopedist all said there was nothing they could identify to cause the pain down the inside of my foot and weak painful feeling when I walk more than a block. I am doing a lot of strengthening on my tkr right knee from surgery 8 months ago, and am up to 75 pounds on squat sets. I got up to 50 miles round trip on my road bike before the weather got too miserable to ride anymore. The problem is that every single morning I have to go through the herl slides pulling up with a strap to get my knee to bend to where I want it to. Without assistance, it is about 128 or 130 lieing on my back, but if I sm doing some activity outside and my foot gets slightly caught up against grass or snow or something, it is incredible pain because the knee is forced to bend the amount that it really needs to clear my leg from stuff on uneven ground when
I am walking. This tells me it is not bending far enough. When I do heel slides, I have to go through a lot of pain and finally pull my heel up to within a thumb to index finger width distance from my butt. I think that distance is about 135 degrees. It is frustrating and I wonder if I have to continue to do these painful heel slides forever every day, or will it finally bend enough on its own? I hope other people read this and respond. Not sure how this works to get other people to see this.

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Hello. I had a TKR in October. You are talking about your foot. Since my surgery my foot had either had numbness, tingling or so HOT I can barely stand it. It also has a feeling of a ball under it when I walk. Different feelings every day. Painful.
My knee is really painful as well. So hard to get a good nights rest.
Is that what you are doing?
You are getting really good flexion the best I have ever done “cold” is 120 and 124 with PT.
I am worried because I cannot go for walks anymore but maybe it will all come with time?

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zakcat | @zakcat | Dec 8, 2019

have you seen a neurologist? That would be my first stop. And your flexion is very good ! Why are you worried about it? Lots of people never get past 120. And I hear that improvement continues for the first year, so that is something to look forward to. Just keep moving. I had my second knee done late September, and I just got to 120. and 125 with some help.

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1 reply
irol | @irol | Dec 8, 2019
In reply to @zakcat "have you seen a neurologist? That would be my first stop. And your flexion is very..." + (show)
@zakcat

have you seen a neurologist? That would be my first stop. And your flexion is very good ! Why are you worried about it? Lots of people never get past 120. And I hear that improvement continues for the first year, so that is something to look forward to. Just keep moving. I had my second knee done late September, and I just got to 120. and 125 with some help.

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I saw a neutologist but think the results were not accurate. He said he was sure it had nothing to do with knee surgery before he even did any tests! He was very negative and treated me like I was crazy and overdramatic and did not like rhe zillion questions I kept asking him (because I was curious about all parts of rhe nerve conduction test and muscle stimulus tests he did). It showrd that one nerve was slow or not at all responding, but that nerve Is not connected to the area where I have symptoms. Anyway, my worry about flexion is that I wonder if it is expected at this point post surgery, to have to force-flex my knee every single morning for 15 to 30 minutes (with painful heel slides) to get it to bend enough to be comfortable enough to go down stairs and move around for the day, and I am almost 8 months out from surgery!

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1 reply
bengalady | @bengalady | Dec 9, 2019
In reply to @irol "I saw a neutologist but think the results were not accurate. He said he was sure..." + (show)
@irol

I saw a neutologist but think the results were not accurate. He said he was sure it had nothing to do with knee surgery before he even did any tests! He was very negative and treated me like I was crazy and overdramatic and did not like rhe zillion questions I kept asking him (because I was curious about all parts of rhe nerve conduction test and muscle stimulus tests he did). It showrd that one nerve was slow or not at all responding, but that nerve Is not connected to the area where I have symptoms. Anyway, my worry about flexion is that I wonder if it is expected at this point post surgery, to have to force-flex my knee every single morning for 15 to 30 minutes (with painful heel slides) to get it to bend enough to be comfortable enough to go down stairs and move around for the day, and I am almost 8 months out from surgery!

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I hate Doctors like that. I just switch when they act like that. I’m three years TKR, still with tightness, swelling. I do get 102, as far as it’s going to go. I don’t do stairs very well, walk sideways. Gabapentin has helped with the swelling. Maybe another round of PT may help ? Good Luck

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1 reply
JK | @contentandwell | Dec 9, 2019
In reply to @bengalady "I hate Doctors like that. I just switch when they act like that. I’m three years..." + (show)
@bengalady

I hate Doctors like that. I just switch when they act like that. I’m three years TKR, still with tightness, swelling. I do get 102, as far as it’s going to go. I don’t do stairs very well, walk sideways. Gabapentin has helped with the swelling. Maybe another round of PT may help ? Good Luck

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@bengalady I doubt that PT would help much now but if your orthopedic doctor thinks it might he will prescribe it. My orthopedic doctor is huge on riding a recumbent bike, getting the seat as far up as possible. I have used that a lot. I also do pool walking/jogging. When I do that I lift my leg up high to get a good knee bend.
I did actually have slight improvement -- a few degrees -- beyond that first year.
JK

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damewocane | @damewocane | Dec 9, 2019

You who have a decent bend ,please be thankful . I still have less than 60 degrees and the pain- unmanaged is off the charts-2 years out from original tkr.
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cheril252 | @cheril252 | Dec 12, 2019
In reply to @JustinMcClanahan "Hello @maggiet, and welcome to Connect. I can understand your frustrations and concerns as I have..." + (show)
@JustinMcClanahan

Hello @maggiet, and welcome to Connect.

I can understand your frustrations and concerns as I have experienced all of what you are experiencing now. I had my right knee replaced at age 19 because of a genetic disability that left my right knee with end-stage arthritis beginning at the age of 9. I had a horrid recovery and also had two manipulations because my scar tissue growth was so aggressive. My range-of-motion was 10-40 degrees for the better part of the first year.

I kept with my rehab and stayed active, and eventually I felt a "pop" in my knee and over the next few days I went to 0-100 degree flexion and extension. This all developed 1.5-2 years after my initial replacement. I can say 11 years later, my knee has not degraded at all and my quality of life is so much better. Stick with it, it will come, even if it takes longer than what others maybe expected. Stick with the PT & keep your spirits up.

@maggiet, how are your exercises going? I admit that I did not push myself hard enough because of the pain and that hindered my progress. How is your pain?

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Hi Justin. I hope youre still around on these boards- I read your story about the end stage arthritis you had at such an early age. My daughter was born with JRA, now they call it JIA (juvenille rhumatoid arthritis). She had knee destruction by the time she was 12. At 37 she had bi later TKR. Now two years later one leg is totally frozen. she cant bend the knee at all. tomorrow she starts physical therapy again. I dont know what they can do since I believe she had scar tissue growth like yourself. How do they tell if theres scar tissue? her xray looks good. Do you get an MRI? I was thinking of taking her back to the surgeon who did the surgery. Im concerned if she cant bend it soon it will be permanently frozen.
any suggestions? Thanks. this board is very helpful though Im reading posts from 2017 I hope you can see this in Dec. 2019.

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kimbies1204 | @kimbies1204 | Dec 21, 2019

Hi...I am 2 1/2 years post-op, bilateral TKR and have had problems since day 1. They finally found both knees to be full of scar tissue, so I’m scheduled for the left, scope lysis of adhesions next week. Does anyone have experience with this procedure? I don’t want to mess up the recovery with too much or too little pt, exercise, etc. And I live by myself, what should I expect for recovery? Thank you!

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2 replies
Lisa Lucier | @lisalucier | Dec 22, 2019
In reply to @kimbies1204 "Hi...I am 2 1/2 years post-op, bilateral TKR and have had problems since day 1. They..." + (show)
@kimbies1204

Hi...I am 2 1/2 years post-op, bilateral TKR and have had problems since day 1. They finally found both knees to be full of scar tissue, so I’m scheduled for the left, scope lysis of adhesions next week. Does anyone have experience with this procedure? I don’t want to mess up the recovery with too much or too little pt, exercise, etc. And I live by myself, what should I expect for recovery? Thank you!

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@kimbies1204 - problems with your TKR since Day 1 sounds like a tough road. You'll note I moved your post on adhesions after total knee replacement (TKR) here to an existing discussion on scar tissue after TKR so you can connect with members like @leithlane @bengalady @cheril252 @damewocane @contentandwell and others who may have input your situation with scar tissue and the scope lysis of adhesions.

Will you be doing any patient education at the hospital before this procedure? What day will you be having it?

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1 reply
dduke | @dduke | Dec 22, 2019
In reply to @kimbies1204 "Hi...I am 2 1/2 years post-op, bilateral TKR and have had problems since day 1. They..." + (show)
@kimbies1204

Hi...I am 2 1/2 years post-op, bilateral TKR and have had problems since day 1. They finally found both knees to be full of scar tissue, so I’m scheduled for the left, scope lysis of adhesions next week. Does anyone have experience with this procedure? I don’t want to mess up the recovery with too much or too little pt, exercise, etc. And I live by myself, what should I expect for recovery? Thank you!

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I had that done and my Dr. was surprised there was so much scar tissue. I used my stationary bike every three hours after procedure (tiring, but I did not want the scar tissue to come back.) It worked quite well and I have been diligent about lunges, bike, walking, etc but it has come back after a year ( two years post TKR). Without the Lysis I probably would have very little movement. Good luck.

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