three years later my bowling ball, that is what i call the device in the knee , is still heavy and it swells, but i am use to it by now. Nothing else i can do. I was told by my friends, no problem, piece of cake, be out playing tennis in no time. Well, no more tennis, my body hates surgery, and that is why i opted for stem cells. I guess i am fortunate it had worked for me. Keep the faith and move on with your life.

This is a free forum u can participate in to ask laymen questions to other laymen, confidentially about any medical problem u have...I follow it fo knees and hips...find much information but unfortunately many people who have had problems.

Thought that was what I was doing? I'm new, still trying to figure the website out.

Google Mayo Clinic post knee replacement exercises, YouTube. A wonderful 4 miniute 30 second video will pop up as well as other similar videos...I recommend just the Mayo videos. I do so because my wife and myself have had excellent surgical outcomes from Mayo. I have had two knee replacements,one hip...just returned from Zumba class that I participate in 6 days a week. I also do weight training including squat, quad lifts which strength the muscles around the knee.However I caution you that I do under the supervision of a personal trainer who is excellent.Personal training like physical therapy are booming occupations as baby boomers ( I'm 70) have exploded these fields. My wife has had two hips a knee and soon to be another knee, successfully at Mayo .... Her second knee per her Mayo doctor will be done when she decides she needs it...Mayo doctors are paid on salary to drive the Mayo brothers philosophy of medicine...Google it.Another example of the Mayo mindset is when I went to two orthopedic surgeons where I lived they both told me I needed knee replacement immediately. Mayo said I need to do nothing immediately and I would know when I would need the surgery. I went another two years,which is important as the prosthesis have a 1% failure rate per year so the older you are the better.While my wife and myself had physical therapy at Mayo...2 days they did not push it afterwards. Mayo gave exercises like in the video for us to do on out own and emphasized ,just move. I did try PT after my first TKR.First session was good,second awful ...a young kid who did not know what he was doing. So I went back to my yoga practice which helped. My wife did no therapy beyond what she had at Mayo. It took me a year to get over the swelling and pain...especially at night. My wife recovered exponentially better than I did,You know men are babies. I recommended a yoga posture call legs up the wall to help with swelling,can find on net,probably on Youtube. Be compassionate with yourself!

Yep, that is what you are doing. The website is a bit intimidating, like a big dark jungle. I still get lost.

Guess I'll check out the Mayo rehab video. Never thought of that as the Mayo refused to do my knee surgery. Be great to get back in to yoga too, except my knee doesn't bend in the right direction. Someone said that's because the metal is not that flexible. So....i don't know. I just know my student PT person was good and helped a lot. The PTAs not so much. He was attentive and knew his stuff. Very professional and should have passed his final test last week making him a bona fide PT (seven years of training).

Hope you find something that works for you. This swelling stuff gets a bit old after a while.

Is this what you meant my MUA? Manipulation Under Anesthesia (MUA) is multidisciplinary manual therapy treatment system which is used to improve articular and soft tissue movement using ... I guess they told me about that as an option if i didn't get the ROM going. Scary, but then i think they clean out the scar tissue too which probably helps.

Blessings

So curious why did Mayo refuse to do your TKR...which location?

The Mayo Clinic, Rochester.
My BMI was 41

So it was because of your BMI,just to be clear?

Yes, why?

There are risks that go with medically complicated morbid obesity. Some physicians won't do over BMI 40. Some do 40-45
and some 45-50. Comes with the territory. The following paragraph explains why physicians decline to do the surgery on morbidly obese people.

Restricted access
Because of the increased risks of complications, it is common practice for some surgeons to restrict the use of TKA in patients with a BMI of 40 or higher. Based on the current available data, many surgeons and surgeon groups across the country withhold surgical intervention in morbidly obese patients until body weight is optimized and associated medical comorbidities are better controlled.3 There may always be exceptions to this type of policy, and opponents to this position do exist. Nevertheless, the medical and societal implications of withholding TKA in morbidly obese patients are unknown.

The left knee was in bad shape in 2012. I tried PT, cortisone shots, pills, ice, etc. Nothing worked. They sold me a cane. I do not qualify for bariatric surgery, i lost 28 lbs on my own with diet changes and treadmill desk walks, The knee did not improve.

In 2016 i tried to get pictures of a grandchild in the marching band and took off walking very fast following the band. Then the popliteal cysts ruptured and the pain was like in the left knee but here they did an MRI and fixed (right knee) in January. I'm pretty certain that the same things are broken in the unfixed knee. I have been walking with a cane since 2012. The TKA leg is now doing better than the unfixed leg per PT. So....i am trying to get back to my two hour a day treadmill desk walks and try to take off more weight before knee #1 gets repaired if they will do it.

I have pain in the left knee just driving the car. I'm doing steps backwards with the left leg down first to strengthen the surgical knee, but also because the left knee hurts and does that give out thing. It has a knee effusion, popliteal cyst, bone on bone lack of cartilage etc.

Morbid obesity plus age plus osteoarthritis plus injury = knee problems. It is what it is i guess.

Hope that helps you understand why they declined the surgery. Pretty common occurrence.

Blessings.

n

Thank you for the detail explanation.I'm glad you did so because your initial statement that Mayo refused to do the operation (without explanation of obesity factor) candidly,seems a negative assessment of Mayo.I wish you the best.