Hi Cindi,

I worked out ahead of surgery for about 9 months, but even three months would be fine. I did step ups, sometimes with weights in hand, squats against a wall with a huge ball on my back, I also did work with exercise bands - tied off on a post and looped around my calf and then I bent and straightened the leg to work the quads.

Post-op the most important exercises the first four weeks are for range of motion (ROM). Sit against a wall with your leg extended and put a towel or yoga band around the ball of your foot and pull your knee toward you, as far as the stretch/pain will allow. Wear socks to ease the slide. Sit on a chair, also wearing socks, and pull your surgical knee towards the chair with your good leg as a lever. Again, go until there is resistance, Each day will get better,

As far as recovery, I used a walker week 1, a cane week 2, and unassisted around 2 or 3 weeks. Gotta keep doing the exercises though. After four weeks I added strength exercises like the ones above for my quads. Swelling was almost gone at 8 weeks.

Now these were almost perfect recoveries, given the good shape I was in. Don't get discouraged if your times are longer. It can take 6 months to a year. Just be diligent and work with a trainer pre-op and a good PT immediately post-op. Oh, and I'm 67 y/o.

All the best,

Joe