What items do I need post TKR during recovery?

When I started it was 5 min, and I often couldn’t do full rotation. They told me just to pedal forward as far as I could, then backward. It was slow and gradual.i was also advised to set seat so my knees were not flexing so much to make turn till I was ready

Different things. Leg extensions are usually the exercises you think of: with towel. On bed, floor, yoga mat.... what I was referring to was extended straight leg stress, as in keeping your knee as flat and straight as possible, e.g. between chair and side table, or preferably between flat plane and elevated point. Basically, get the leg straight, with some elevation, and wait until it really hurts. Or not. But do this 1 hour total per day as my PT demanded. No movement, just static stretch. Guess you’d call them passive leg extensions?

@glasgow46 I started out with the seat far back and gradually moved it forward. Being short I had it all the way up but after my injury in July I had to move it back again and I am just about ready to move it all the way forward again.

@ellerbracke I don’t remember my extension ever not being zero! Maybe it was a little, but not for long.
JK

@contentandwell do you mean the bike seat? I can't reach the pedals when I move it too far back. I'm doing okay with elliptical so I'll stick with that for a while.

@contentandwell : sort of ditto in the other direction: I can’t remember my ROM ever being less than 105 (day after surgery). Last official measurement 135. I’m pretty sure more now.

@saeternes yes, I was referring to the bike seat. Just move it back far enough so that you are able to pedal without bending your knee so much that it hurts too much. You will be surprised at how quickly you will be able to be able to move it forward, one notch at a time.
I like the elliptical too and do that at my health club, but I have my bike in my bedroom.

@ellerbracke WOW, 135! I thought that was the max they expect patients to attain, and the max that most replacement knees can be expected to reach. That’s great. I hope when I start PT for osteoporosis next week that I will be able to get the therapist to measure my flex.
JK

@contentandwell I'm still pre-surgery, so my problems with the bike won't change until after the surgery! I certainly will go back to it after the surgery.

Final question for now: how long was it before you could climb stairs, not just a few but say 20? The date is nearing. This week I go for the c-scan and the nerve ablation.

@saeternes: that’s a toughie, both because I did not keep notes, and because I live in an environment with few if any stairs. I do know that at the 4 months mark I was walking up to the 3rd. floor of a hotel multiple times daily, and was able to travel on my own with a full size suitcase, boarding old-fashioned 3-step-up trains in less than ideal conditions (snow on the platforms). If I would need to guess, I would say roughly 10 weeks after surgery was when the going up and, more important for me, the going down, of stairs was pretty manageable. Still holding on to railing for safety, but not to pull my weight upward. I think that the more opportunities you have to practice the stairs, the easier and faster the mastery should be.
Note: the mentioned hotel did of course have an elevator, but I took the stairs for the (knee) exercise.

@saeternes that's too bad that you can't do it at all, that was a big part of my "pre-hab" and it really did help I think. Just do what you can do, whether it be walking, anything that can help those supporting muscles get stronger and that your surgeon approves of.
JK