Has anyone had a tight band feeling after total knee replacement?

Hi,

Also, do your research diligently on finding the best knee surgeon and where you will be having the operation done. I didn’t and just took the first referral the hospital and pcp gave. I’m not saying the surgeon is not capable or good, but had I realized what the total package was, I would have chosen more wisely. I probably could have somehow worked around my knee and avoided the misery I have endured. I am working at preserving my other knee so I will never have to go through it again!

Lol, I don’t even know what a CPM machine is!

Unfortunately, for me , my surgery was 1 year and 7 months ago. Two different orthos, a pain management doctor, 2 different PTs and over a year of physical therapy and the band is still here. I don't think it's going away. It appears that for most of us, we're just grasping at straws for a diagnosis. I need the other knee replaced, but after so much trouble with this one, I won't even think about having the other knee replaced.

Chickenhaslips:it’s almost been two years since my TKR .Did everything everyone told me to do.I’m a retired doctor and I’m anal . I did it all .Still the ITBAND
discomfort.Got a second opinion.He honestly said the surgery went great based on exam and films .He sent me to his PT associate.She made me work butt muscles I never knew I had. I really feel I’m getting better.It’s all about restoring balance to the leg muscles.

Doesn’t the IT band run down the side of your outer leg? My band that’s tight is just below my knee all around like a tourniquet. Is that where yours is? What type of exercise are you doing?

It is a continuous passive motion machine used after TKR and THR. You can see several styles if you google it. The claims are that it helps with pain, flexibility and scar tissue formation. Not all doctors agree. My doctor did not.

I'm 11 months into a TKR and I have a tight band feeling. I have good range of motion and no pain. I just assume I'll need to live with it.

Thanks.

Not sure what the tight band is and how it feels, but my knee is still pretty numb. Not a lot of pain, and almost as flexible and rom as my real knee when doing exercises but in actual real life management, it is not exactly good. I can walk fine but when I walk more than a mile, my feet burn and the numbness in feet get worse, much worse. So my knee is progressing, but the other issues from waist down are terrible. But, I wouldn’t really know how knee is doing cause after the operation, I didn’t get the care I expected.

Fast story, when I was in recovery, about 12 hours after, this resident or intern came in and said. “How’s the knee”? He pointed and touched my non-surgical knee!!! It was then that I knew I made a mistake with this operation….

You share my sympathy. It is beyond extraordinary that this common problem is not understood. My feeling is that the numb area where nerves were severed correlates so well with the band tightness that it must be causal. If I gently touch the area when tight the tightness ease right back. Clue that it is not a functional problem. The brain creates pain - all pain we experience - and it does so to protect. I guess that the lack of sensory data from the nerves is treated as a big unknown so that area is tightened up. A major problem for me is that the tightness compromises movement so creates further problems when I try to play tennis. the brain can be very clumsy and crude with pain - I have had tension headaches for 27 years that for the most part are extremely likely to be just habit.