TKR causing tightness and burning 2 1/2 years out: Scar tissue?

Hi @lukyme, I'm a year plus out from my TKR but have been fortunate not to have burning or scar tissue. There are a couple of other discussions that may provide some helpful information for you.

- Severe Burning Pain after Knee Replacement: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/severe-burning-pain-after-knee-replacement/
- 10 year old artificial knee has burning sensation when bending: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/10-year-old-artificial-knee-has-burning-sensation-when-bending/
- Scar tissue after knee replacement: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/scar-tissue-after-knee-replacement/

@contentandwell, @rmeddings, @randythehack and @ruthannejoan may be able to provide some suggestions.

I did find an interesting article but not sure it describes symptoms exactly.

Anterior knee pain after a total knee arthroplasty: What can cause this pain?
-- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4095008/

Did the doctor say why he thought scar tissue might be the cause of your pain?

@johnbishop @lukyme I too have not experienced that type of pain. The worst I have is some discomfort in my R knee, the one that had the first TKR, after prolonged exercise. Other than that, and not getting my flex beyond 120° I have been very fortunate.
JK

I am currently dealing with it myself. I have actually had a knee replacement and 2 revision replacements on the same knee. My latest was last February (2019) to remove scar tissue. Did 3 months of physical therapy plus used a cpm machine after surgery and a Jas brace. Currently just finished 5 weeks of physical therapy with only 3 degree improvement and am facing another surgery next week. Sorry I couldn’t offer more positive feedback. Have been told a small percentage of people develop excess scarring.

anyone had a TKR become lose? Mine is now lose and told to do it again. I am not excited about that.

@cobweb I have not heard of knee replacements coming loose but of course anything can happen, unfortunately. I too would not be excited about the prospect of another knee replacement surgery. I hope you can find some other option, but if not I guess you need to decide which is worse, living with it as is, or getting it fixed. I will be interested in hearing what you decide to do.
JK

I had partial replacement 4 1/2 years ago at 3 1/2 it loosened and had a revision to a total knee replacement. It has been one year this month sense replacement and I only have 100 degrees bend I had a follow up appointment this past Friday due to having server pain at night my doctor feels it is soft tissue causing the pain and I would probably agree as I have zero pain as long as I am up and moving. At this point he has no recommendations for me to correct this issue I can deal with the pain but the lack of sleep is really starting to wear on me I am currently 47 years old and very active sure wish I could find a solution.

I had TKR revision 14 months ago due to loosening of the prostheses, The TKR revision was doing well for the 1st 8 months. Good ROM and extension. Now pain on the right side of knee and quads are hurting. I just hoping it is not loose hardware again.
The orthopedic surgeon doesn’t think it is
Any suggestions or comments
Thanks

I'm 63 and same....I can sleep though but I take 900mg of Gabapentin at bedtime. If I'm moving it's not bad but is a bit sore but I can live with it but after I don't move for 20-30 minutes it hurts and is sore where I want to take something that really doesn't help. Been told it's the muscles surrounding the replacement and need to be stronger. Done PT several times, do the exercises which make it worse but I do them and nothing. It got better or a while then worse again. Everything with the actual knee is good and CT shows no infection. I'm at a loss as well.

Do you have excessive scar tissue? This occurs in 6-10% of all knee replacements. My replacement left me with a very limited range of motion, crazy inflammation of the joint and pain. Probably 60% of the time. They told me all of the same things, be consistent and more aggressive with PT, which I did, lots of icing & elevation. I did all of this to no avail. My PT therapist told me that”I know when I am going to make progress with range, but with you, I hit a hard stop.” He then recommended I drop PT, which my surgeon agreed to. I then was put through a MUA, an Arthroscopic Debridement & manipulation and finally, an “Open Debridement”. Although these procedures were aimed at eliminating or minimizing scar tissue, each procedure made me worse. I was then released not my apologetic surgeon, wjho suggested I get a second opinion at HSS(Hospital For Special Surgery) in NYC. They are the #1 orthopedic hospital in the world. I drove there for an appt about 2 weeks ago. My Doctor there recommended a Revision Surgery to remove the current prosthesis and replace it with a hinged version. For this procedure, they remove all of the tendons that hild your knee together. The tendons function is replaced by the hinge. This removes a lot of the areas where scar tissue tends to accumulate. I asked the HSS doctor if he had been observing my lack of progress, would he have continued with the surgeries. He said NO. We stopped doing that about 10 years ago.