How does your knee feel once it reaches the year of recovery?

@lawanna85 yes, my gait has changed. Throughout the day my lower back hurts.

@cyndi2013 Thanks for your feedback! Could you tell me when you had your knee surgery? Mine is 5 months out and I hope this is not a forever thing. And also, are you doing any gait and balance exercises for it?

@lawanna85 I have not scheduled my knee replacement surgery yet. I'm trying to get all the info first to know how to plan. And whether to have the traditional surgery or the newer surgery where the muscles and tendons are raised up, not cut.

@cathyjok

The trick is to find someone who has extensive experience at the newer, less invasive procedures. Look for someone who has done lots of either subvastus or midvastus surgeries. If you can find someone with such experience, she will be a better choice, IMHO, than an equally experienced surgeon doing the medial parapatetllar approach. All other things being equal, you will have less post surgical pain during the early months with a minimally invasive approach.

I would also look for someone who does not routinely use a tourniquet and someone who does one of the newer alignment: kinematic, inverse kinematic, Functional/Constitutional and not mechanical alignment.

But, going back to the first paragraph, experience is critical. I would want someone who has done at least 100 such procedures, and ideally hundreds or thousands of them. Two other important criteria: great hands, great mind.

If you can get all of that, you will likely have a very successful TKR. I did and I have had no post surgical pain and on the 21st day after surgery my physical therapist measured by range of motion at 122. on the 27th day after surgery, I was on the golf course.

@lawanna85 my one year post op was on 11/6/25. Yes, I do quite a bit of walking every day and stretches.
This just takes time and prayers 🙏.
I am glad that I have this behind me. I wouldn't do it again.

@cyndi2013

@lawanna85 Thanks for your comment. Do you do anything to improve the gait changes and lower back pain? If so, would you share? I have 5 exercises I do for balance and gait but have not noticed much improvement. 1) balance on one leg 2) knee bends 3) stepping side to side 4) walking toe to toe for balance 5) step in a square, both right and left leg. I try to stretch several times a day which does seem to help some. Any information you can share would be appreciated.

@lawanna85 I do about the same exercises. One stretching exercise that works for my back. Stand facing a wall, get close to wall. Reach your hands up the wall as if you are trying to grab a hold of something. Rotate each arm several times. This sounds silly but it works good for me.

@cyndi2013 Are you talking about a stationary rotation? Or move your arms in a circle? Thanks, I will give it a try!

@lawanna85
Of all the exercises I do in PT the one I am terrible at is balance. They have me stand on one leg and try to do that without touching anything for 30 seconds, then the other leg, then again two more times for each. I fail this exercise on both legs. Maybe one of the six times I manage to finish without touching anything. The rest of the time I have to touch something when I start to lose my balance.

On the other hand, the PT tells me my gait is fine.