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

Hi I am one of those people who asked about the tight band if it as normal. Well I am now 8 weeks out I had a mua at 6 weeks the tight band went away …after mua was going well for day or two i finally got to 80 degrees going well until inflammation put a stop to it all my knee could not handle therapy everyday after the mua….. my therapist said we needed to back of a little well I might be at 70 now little disappointed thought for sure I be further along. I have a great physical therapist he listens to me we come up with different game plans as we go….I am looking possibly getting another mua but I am going to ask for steroids also maybe help with some of the inflammation….I go dr on Tuesday so we will see.

Thank you ezas123 for the post about your MUA success. Now you are feeling challenged by the ROM goal. You are lucky to have a great physical therapist. Both my orthopedic PT and my MFR therapist listen carefully to me and then remember everything a lot longer than I do these days. I have been so lucky to have my PT who pushed the new knee beyond my comfort zone so that I was making progress and my MFR therapist who kept my new knee from swelling, eliminated the pain and made sure everything was in alignment.

Will you let me know what happens next Tuesday. I am working hard on balance and better stamina. We can compare notes.

May you have good health and a grateful heart.
Chris

What is MUA. Thanks

I am 4 1/2 weeks post TKR. I had a tight band feeling across my entire knee just as you describe. It has eased quite a bit yet I still have tightness on both sides of the knee. My surgeon and PT people both reminded there is a lot of trauma involved in this surgery and if you are like me a lot of swelling. Not only is there the usual visual scar up and over your knee cap there is typically another hidden incision the surgeon makes in an arc around the knee cap. Not to mention the necessary retraction of skin, ligaments, etc necessary to expose the knee for the implant itself. In other words, a lot of healing to do.

This band of tightness is your body’s response to pain and an attempt to tell you not to go too far and hurt yourself. However, it IS very important to push your knee every day to an uncomfortable yet just manageable level of discomfort but not so far as to be in severe pain. While my range of motion is only up to 95 degrees it has improved each week by 5-7 degrees with consistent and yes somewhat painful therapy.

This level of discomfort is stretching the scar tissue from taking hold. Gently massaging the tight skin around your knee and the incision itself (only once it is well healed) will also soften the tight band feeling and aid in your mobility. Your persistence will gradually both improve your range of motion and ease the “band across the knee” feeling nearly everyone experiences. Do your exercises at PT and more importantly every day at home…along with rest, healthy food and leg elevation. While I have good and bad days, swelling after therapy, frustration at the slow but steady progress it does seem like I’m headed in the right direction. Best wishes.

Great advice! The only thing that might be added is ice, ice, ice - especially after PT and when it swells. It is my go to for up to 6 months after any joints surgery.
Keep it up!
Sue

I also had the "very tight rubber band" or vise-like feeling just below my knee after tkr. I had good range of movement and some numbness at the beginning of my recovery. The numbness went away. The vise-like feeling did not. It was definitely worse when eating more sugar and gluten, which I know causes inflammation in MY joints - but I digress. About 2 years after the tkr I started falling a lot. I felt like if I got off balance at all with that knee I could not recover and would fall. At my yearly checkup with a new dr (we moved from upstate NY to TX) I learned that my knee was too loose and could move right and left in addition to too far forward and backward. I ended up getting a "mild" revision where they swapped out a piece between the joints with a taller piece, to take up more room in the joint, and voila! the vise-like feeling did not come back and I stopped falling. My tkr was done using robotic assist, which the new Dr. said can cause the joint to be too loose if the Dr. doesn't do any "common sense" checking of the knee by manipulating it him/herself to make sure it's not too loose to start with. The joints can stretch out and if they start out too loose that is problematic.

Like everyone this has been constant struggle…. But I feel I am finally on right path my team the consist of my Mayo facial massage therapist that works on scar tissue every week ….. and I go to water therapy right after she pushes me to my limits …. I am feeling like I won’t need another mua in a year ….progress is slow but steady I notice how I can do some steps foot over foot come down little more difficult work in progress. You have to find what works for you …. When I found land therapy was not working I found water therapy I made this change on my own mfr again on my own … dr did not suggest anything …. Chris on this site so many thanks to her I would have never hear about mfr…..so read take some suggestions…. I had to realize what I was doing was not working had to go out of the box …. So glad I did …..

Just wanted to post an update at 5 months post replacement.

In brief it took me until about 12 weeks to finally start feeling somewhat normal. For more weeks than I can count I went through a stage of not being able to sleep more than an hour at a time. My physical therapist said I had swelling that lasted longer than usual and after therapy my knee swelled more than usual. I mentioned this because I believe it was directly tied to my inability to sleep. At about eight weeks I finally started sleeping 2 to 4 hours at a time. At about 10 weeks I was finally sleeping most of the night. I have always heard and read that sleep is the best anti-inflammatory there is and it is no coincidence that my swelling went down and my knee function rapidly improved in direct proportion to the amount of sleep I got.

It was at this point that I started feeling somewhat human. The thought I had made a horrible mistake having the surgery started to go away as I gained good mobility, was able to chip and putt at a golf course again and was also able to start bicycling. Pain had given way to General soreness and a feeling that things might return to normal was a huge mental boost. Even now at 5 months I still have swelling and a sense of soreness and occasional tightness. But I have returned to golfing riding in a cart and I’m bicycling daily as well as taking plenty of walks with the dog. The only meds I take are Aleve before and after golfing or heavy exercise.

I have my six month check up with the surgeon in a few weeks and I’ll be interested to hear his opinion. My knee seems to work well, is not Loose and I still need to work on strengthening all the muscles in the leg. I have had fairly regular massages which help greatly and I also highly recommend when you get tired or start to feel sore get off your feet. For me just standing or sitting for too long causes soreness or tightening but is easily fixed by taking breaks. One more thing… If you need to, now is the time to lose weight. It will make everything go much more smoothly.

Best wishes to all of you in recovery or considering the surgery. While it is not easy the first few weeks there is a light at the end of the tunnel especially if you follow all the doctor and therapists orders.

What a great and positive report on your TKR recovery. Thank you. I know it will be helpful to others as they consider a TKR and need to know about the recuperation issues.

I had TKR #2 last summer. My knee is just perfect. I too followed the doctor and therapist's orders. It sure works. Both my TKR knees crack and pop at times but other than that, I am not reminded of surgery or recovery at all. Did they really happen?

May you have comfort and ease.
Chris

You are one lucky fellow! Enjoy.