Hi @babette, I hate stairs. And I totally get your concern. I had a right TKR in April 2017. We have stairs front and back so they made me climb before I was released from the hospital... but it was a step/stop kind of climb. I wish I could remember how long before I could do stairs normally. Going up has always been easier than coming down for me. I know that I was going up in a normal way after the first month because I had home PT and he made me practice each session. However, going down was harder. I blame it on the fact that my left knee is still pretty bad. I'm going to have a left TKR this coming February. So... even now, going down, I either turn around and go down as if it were a ladder, or I do the step/step method. I CAN go down stairs normally, but unless its important - at an event or something - I just do it the way that is most comfortable. I believe that @gailfaith and @contentandwell have both had TKR's. I tagged them to see if they may chime in with some tips. Just keep at it. Sometimes progress is so slow that we don't realize it, then all of a sudden there's a breakthrough. Hope that happens for you.