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Leg length difference after TKR! What can be done?

Joint Replacements | Last Active: Feb 15 3:59pm | Replies (78)

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@jenniferhunter

@sarahleemoore62 Sarah Lee, I am sorry you are going through so much trouble with your knee replacement. I have not had that experience, but I do work with a physical therapist for issues when my pelvis goes out of alignment and for me that does cause knee or low back pain when it is out of alignment. My PT tells me keeping proper body alignment prevents the uneven wear and tear on the knee joint. I would think this is just as important after a knee replacement that the alignment is correct with the replaced knee and your body's other joints like ankle, hip, and pelvis are in proper alignment. When my pelvis is out of alignment, it sometimes functionally seems that one leg is longer that the other. In reality, that isn't true, but the pelvis may have an upslip that moves the leg upward as if it was shorter. That affects my walking and causes low back pain.

Here is a link that explains knee mechanics and movement. Of course a knee replacement changes that, but it also explains other alignment issues.
https://mskneurology.com/resolve-knee-pain-alignment/
From your X-ray image when you follow the line that is equidistant between your feet upward, you can see that it is not equidistant between the 2 sides when it gets near your pelvis, and it looks like one side of your pelvis is higher.

I do hope that you have a top notch orthopedic surgeon if you are considering revision surgery, and it doesn't hurt to get several opinions on that. Some questions you may want to ask would be if the knee replacement implant is positioned properly at the end of the bone, but did it leave a longer femur on that side because not enough bone was removed before placement in surgery, effectively, are your legs actually different lengths?

If you were going to have a re-operation, who would you trust to fix it and get it right? You need the best surgeon you can find with experience in revision surgery. I feel for you, as that will be a big surgery and long recovery. I can relate to that with my ankle that has had surgeries because of a bad fracture with long recoveries. I saw my mom going through having both knees replaced.

If you wanted to seek an opinion at any of the Mayo Clinic Campuses, you can get started with this link. I have had spine and ankle surgery at Mayo Rochester and it was a good experience. http://mayocl.in/1mtmR63

Jennifer

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Replies to "@sarahleemoore62 Sarah Lee, I am sorry you are going through so much trouble with your knee..."

I forgot to mentioned that my leg is now over 2 cm longer

Jennifer - sorry for so many messages, but wanted to thank you for all your information. You have been a big help