Burning after total knee replacement

Posted by jetter @jetter, Feb 12, 2019

why does it burn after total replacement?

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@gator1965

I still have burning pain 10 months after total knee replacement. I think this is quite common

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I am also 10 months out from TKR and have the burning/stinging pain. Any idea what causes this? I have my one year checkup in about 7 weeks so I'll talk to her then. But meanwhile I'm wondering if this is scar tissue. I have good range of motion . . can straighten knee totally and bend 120+ degrees.

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@lizzyisme

Nerves cut when you had TKR. I too had same issue. So nerve is issue. One year later still burning so I finally had a nerve ablation and have felt 100% better.

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I had the same ablation done and agree my knee is 100% better then prior to ablation.

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@pmac

Eleven weeks out from TKR. And yes, I was wondering about the ablation as one person stated they had had it done following burning pain after their TKR.

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Hi @pmac - I'm so sorry you are having that kind of pain. I had two TKRs - the most recent in January of this year. I'm so fortunate to have not had serious problems with scarring or burning pain, but I read of so many who do. I'm glad to see you are getting good feedback on the nerve ablation. Have you talked with your ortho surgeon about the possibility of having it?

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@ptbradshaw

I am also 10 months out from TKR and have the burning/stinging pain. Any idea what causes this? I have my one year checkup in about 7 weeks so I'll talk to her then. But meanwhile I'm wondering if this is scar tissue. I have good range of motion . . can straighten knee totally and bend 120+ degrees.

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Hi @ptbradshaw - Welcome to Connect. I'm glad you found this group. As you can see, lots of people here have had the burning sensation and issues with scar tissue. Your ROM sounds wonderful! How often do you have the burning/stinging pain?

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I have the burning sensation just about every time I stand up or climb stairs . . . basically any time I put weight on it while moving. Just standing doesn't bother me too bad.

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@ptbradshaw

I have the burning sensation just about every time I stand up or climb stairs . . . basically any time I put weight on it while moving. Just standing doesn't bother me too bad.

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When was your surgery ? I got lidocaine patches from surgeon. Some relief ...

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@equus111

When was your surgery ? I got lidocaine patches from surgeon. Some relief ...

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Hi I have the burning every so often, but my main concern is every time I stand it feels as though my left knee is breaking into. It takes me a moment or two before I can walk. Has anyone else experienced this. I had surgery twice on this knee. the 1st time was Jan 8th, I then has an MUA on Feb. 27th because knee wouldn't been. I then had the 2nd surgery on May 21st 2019. The Dr. went in and put a smaller spacer and removed scar tissue. Dr. said I had so much scar tissue that it was unbelievable he said he had never seen anything like it out of the 10 + years that he has been doing surgery. I was doing pretty good until about 2 1/2 weeks ago I started having this excruciating pain on the outside of my knee. My therapist was concerned and she texted my surgeon telling him that he need to see me because something wasn't right. Can anyone elaborate on this matter?

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@calahulabuddy

My injury was covered by workers comp and 5 years after my injury date they canceled my case after seeing a physiatrist for 15 minutes. I had to get a lawyer to reopen my case and since the TKR the dr's that I have seen say they wouldn't touch me with a ten foot pole. They don't make as much money since they only get what WC will pay, but they also have to pay my lawyer 20% of every bill. WC insurance have set me up with an appointment at the Mayo clinic, with a wrist doctor, don't know how that would help, and then again with Salt Lake with a doctor that specializes in elbows. I am seeing a pattern here, WC doesn't want to pay out any more and they don't care if I am any better. The only complaint I have with the knee is the constant pain, otherwise I have great travel, it is one of the sport knees, so I can bend it almost as far as my good knee. I tried my tens unit on it a few nights ago, one pad on each side of the knee in the areas of most pain. Ran it for several hours at a setting that was just tolerable, it numbed the pain enough to where I was able to get 7 hours of sleep. It however did not work as well the next night, but I still was able to get 5 hours. I have sought out doctors who do revisions, they all say they won't see me.

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I noticed you mentioned “sport knee”. What exactly did you mean by that, and what is that? I had whatever is standard, off the shelf knee, and I’m around 132 flex, perhaps even more. I’m curious to know more about your specific artificial joint, just in case I need another TKR done down the road. Will avoid that all all costs, though, until I have exhausted alternative treatments!

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@debbraw

Hi @ptbradshaw - Welcome to Connect. I'm glad you found this group. As you can see, lots of people here have had the burning sensation and issues with scar tissue. Your ROM sounds wonderful! How often do you have the burning/stinging pain?

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Hi @ptbradshaw - I had two TKRs and I didn't have that burning pain with either of them. I'm glad you have an appt. for a followup with your orthopedic surgeon but I'm sure you hat waiting 7 weeks for that. Has the burning sensation been with you all through you recovery or did something trigger it recently?

@lynnwade54 - Your knee pain sounds excruciating. It sounds like you have a great proactive physical therapist and I'm glad he/she texted your doctor. Did anything different happen 2 1/2 weeks ago, or did the pain just start up on its on?

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Hi Debbra I must said that I do have an awesome physical therapist, she pays very close attention to her patients. She notice that I wasn't performing as much as I had been which resulted in me losing ROM. I begun telling her what I was experiencing and she immediately text my surgeon and informed him that I need to be seen within the week. To answer your question I can't recall doing anything differently and definitely no falls. I really don't know what cause this problem. I did go to my doctor and he said that he is very puzzled he's not sure what is going on. He did an x-ray and said everything looks normal. He gave me a lab slip to have blood work to make sure there is no infection, he said that if the blood work comes back normal he is going to refer me to another orthopedic doctor for a second opinion.

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