1. < Joint Replacements

Therapy after TKR

Posted by sharebear @sharebear, May 5, 2022

Hello , I am 8 weeks post op and I am having great difficulty regaining the ability to bend my knee. 3 years ago I had a TKR and they had to re open and do the knee cap. First time around no issues. I can’t bend my knee very much , it’s so tight and aches all the time. Does anyone know a good set of videos to follow? I am not close to a place where I can get PT. Thank you in advance.

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Mentor
Teresa, Volunteer Mentor | @hopeful33250 | May 16, 2022
In reply to @lindajae "I still in pain 15 months after Total knee replacement on my left knee. I cannot..." + (show)
@lindajae

I still in pain 15 months after Total knee replacement on my left knee. I cannot do daily activities the pain gets so bad. This is controlling my life. I am 72 years old. I had total knee replacement and 6 months of PT and seems pain continues to worsen. Incision healed up nicely. Blood work shows no infection. But pain continues. I have movement but painful. I have had several X-rays that show placement seems to be fine. I have had Cat scan and nerve study. I am in pain management and have been since after surgery. I am taking hydrocodone, cyclobenzaprine, and gabapentin. Still no relief of this pain. If I lift my leg outward sideways the pain is excruciating and continues down my leg to my ankle. Especially when lying down on my right ride and raise my left leg upward or away from right leg. I have been faithful taking my meds for 15 months and still no pain relief. Pain management is process of sending me to neurosurgeon to check on lower back pain L 5 area may be cause of now having leg, hip and lower back pain. Unknown if any of this will resolve the constant knee pain. I do lots of crying and praying and cannot understand why no one can figure out why all this pain is ongoing. There has got to be someone , some doctor somewhere that may can help me. No other doctor would take me being another doctor had done my surgery. I was and still confident in my doctor but he does not know what could be causing all the pain. I was told by a friend that you can still develop infection in the joint even years afterward. I am wondering if this could be my situation. And that any bodily infection can move to a replaced joint. I did develop a sore below my knee that later appeared as a basil cell skin carcinoma which was successfully removed. Any ideas or suggestions appreciated this pain is overtaking my life.

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Hello @lindajae and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Oh, I'm sorry to hear of the continued pain after your knee replacement. Chronic pain can be very discouraging, especially when you can't find a good remedy.

I feel concerned about your statement, " No other doctor would take me being another doctor who had done my surgery." Is there not some way that you can get a second opinion?

We have some other members on Connect who have posted about knee replacement surgery and I'd like to invite them to this discussion, @johnbishop, @contentandwell, @mues, and @sharebear.

We have a discussion about the pain after TKR which you might find helpful. Many of these members post of continued pain even after therapy. Here is the link to that discussion, https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/therapy-after-tkr/

I would also like to invite @rwinney and @jenniferhunter who have had experiences with chronic pain.

Usually, physicians are more than willing to help a patient with a problem such as yours. Since your current doctor cannot offer you any suggestions or help have you asked him for a referral?

REPLY
JK | @contentandwell | May 17, 2022
In reply to @lindajae "I still in pain 15 months after Total knee replacement on my left knee. I cannot..." + (show)
@lindajae

I still in pain 15 months after Total knee replacement on my left knee. I cannot do daily activities the pain gets so bad. This is controlling my life. I am 72 years old. I had total knee replacement and 6 months of PT and seems pain continues to worsen. Incision healed up nicely. Blood work shows no infection. But pain continues. I have movement but painful. I have had several X-rays that show placement seems to be fine. I have had Cat scan and nerve study. I am in pain management and have been since after surgery. I am taking hydrocodone, cyclobenzaprine, and gabapentin. Still no relief of this pain. If I lift my leg outward sideways the pain is excruciating and continues down my leg to my ankle. Especially when lying down on my right ride and raise my left leg upward or away from right leg. I have been faithful taking my meds for 15 months and still no pain relief. Pain management is process of sending me to neurosurgeon to check on lower back pain L 5 area may be cause of now having leg, hip and lower back pain. Unknown if any of this will resolve the constant knee pain. I do lots of crying and praying and cannot understand why no one can figure out why all this pain is ongoing. There has got to be someone , some doctor somewhere that may can help me. No other doctor would take me being another doctor had done my surgery. I was and still confident in my doctor but he does not know what could be causing all the pain. I was told by a friend that you can still develop infection in the joint even years afterward. I am wondering if this could be my situation. And that any bodily infection can move to a replaced joint. I did develop a sore below my knee that later appeared as a basil cell skin carcinoma which was successfully removed. Any ideas or suggestions appreciated this pain is overtaking my life.

Jump to this post

Hi, @lindajae Welcome to Connect.

I'm very sorry to hear about your pain. I can't imagine going through that. I have had two TKRs but did not have to deal with much pain beyond around 6 weeks.

Generally, doctors will take a patient who has had a knee replacement by a different surgeon, if it's been more than a year since the surgery as yours has. I know a woman who went through horrible pain for two years and went to a few different doctors before finding one who diagnosed the problem. He did a surgery on her that fixed the problem and she has been better ever since.

I would persist in trying to find another surgeon who will look at your knee. Make sure you find the best possible surgeon that you can. The woman I mention lives in southern NH and the surgeon who fixed her knee was in Boston at a major hospital. Generally, the doctors at major medical centers are the best a diagnosing problems such as this simply because they have seen more of them. That does not mean that EVERY doctor at a major medical center is great so you do still have to do some research to find the best.

I hope you are able to find the right doctor to diagnose what is causing the problem.
JK

REPLY
Mentor
Rachel, Volunteer Mentor | @rwinney | May 18, 2022
In reply to @lindajae "I still in pain 15 months after Total knee replacement on my left knee. I cannot..." + (show)
@lindajae

I still in pain 15 months after Total knee replacement on my left knee. I cannot do daily activities the pain gets so bad. This is controlling my life. I am 72 years old. I had total knee replacement and 6 months of PT and seems pain continues to worsen. Incision healed up nicely. Blood work shows no infection. But pain continues. I have movement but painful. I have had several X-rays that show placement seems to be fine. I have had Cat scan and nerve study. I am in pain management and have been since after surgery. I am taking hydrocodone, cyclobenzaprine, and gabapentin. Still no relief of this pain. If I lift my leg outward sideways the pain is excruciating and continues down my leg to my ankle. Especially when lying down on my right ride and raise my left leg upward or away from right leg. I have been faithful taking my meds for 15 months and still no pain relief. Pain management is process of sending me to neurosurgeon to check on lower back pain L 5 area may be cause of now having leg, hip and lower back pain. Unknown if any of this will resolve the constant knee pain. I do lots of crying and praying and cannot understand why no one can figure out why all this pain is ongoing. There has got to be someone , some doctor somewhere that may can help me. No other doctor would take me being another doctor had done my surgery. I was and still confident in my doctor but he does not know what could be causing all the pain. I was told by a friend that you can still develop infection in the joint even years afterward. I am wondering if this could be my situation. And that any bodily infection can move to a replaced joint. I did develop a sore below my knee that later appeared as a basil cell skin carcinoma which was successfully removed. Any ideas or suggestions appreciated this pain is overtaking my life.

Jump to this post

@lindajae Hello there, welcome. You have my attention, Linda. I am very sorry to learn of your unfortunate pain and symptom cycle. You are understandably frustrated, scared, and searching for answers. Having been in a chronic pain cycle similar to you and feeling like I wanted to throw in the towel and give up, I did not, and I assure you that there is hope and a better path forward.

In my opinion, you check many boxes of Central Sensitization Syndrome. CSS is a chronic pain and sensory disorder that is an umbrella over things like neuropathy, migraine, POTS, IBS, back pain, muscle, joint, nerve, bone dysfunction, sensory dysfunction etc... CSS happens when the central nervous system and peripheral sensory input system gets upregulated from perhaps a traumatic event, a surgery, an accident, stress, etc...

Here is a video presentation on CSS by the Mayo Clinic's Dr. Sletten:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJNhdnSK3WQ

If you are interested in watching the video, will you please get back to me and let me know if it resonates with you?

Connect is here to help you problem solve. Please keep the faith and know that you are not alone in your journey. Positive thoughts and encouragement are coming your way!

REPLY
jilliemo12345 | @jilliemo12345 | May 18, 2022
In reply to @lindajae "I still in pain 15 months after Total knee replacement on my left knee. I cannot..." + (show)
@lindajae

I still in pain 15 months after Total knee replacement on my left knee. I cannot do daily activities the pain gets so bad. This is controlling my life. I am 72 years old. I had total knee replacement and 6 months of PT and seems pain continues to worsen. Incision healed up nicely. Blood work shows no infection. But pain continues. I have movement but painful. I have had several X-rays that show placement seems to be fine. I have had Cat scan and nerve study. I am in pain management and have been since after surgery. I am taking hydrocodone, cyclobenzaprine, and gabapentin. Still no relief of this pain. If I lift my leg outward sideways the pain is excruciating and continues down my leg to my ankle. Especially when lying down on my right ride and raise my left leg upward or away from right leg. I have been faithful taking my meds for 15 months and still no pain relief. Pain management is process of sending me to neurosurgeon to check on lower back pain L 5 area may be cause of now having leg, hip and lower back pain. Unknown if any of this will resolve the constant knee pain. I do lots of crying and praying and cannot understand why no one can figure out why all this pain is ongoing. There has got to be someone , some doctor somewhere that may can help me. No other doctor would take me being another doctor had done my surgery. I was and still confident in my doctor but he does not know what could be causing all the pain. I was told by a friend that you can still develop infection in the joint even years afterward. I am wondering if this could be my situation. And that any bodily infection can move to a replaced joint. I did develop a sore below my knee that later appeared as a basil cell skin carcinoma which was successfully removed. Any ideas or suggestions appreciated this pain is overtaking my life.

Jump to this post

I’m so sorry you are having this terrible pain. It seems unusual but there obviously is something going on.
You should be able to have another surgeons evaluation, I suggest you push for consultation.
Don’t give up keep asking questions and searching on the Internet, ask friends to help searching.
I will pray you find relief.
Best to you. Jilly

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