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Pain after recent Knee Replacement. What is normal? For how long?

Joint Replacements | Last Active: Apr 4, 2023 | Replies (102)
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@ellerbracke

@ddsack: I saw that heyjoe addressed the strength aspect of knee replacement recovery. You mentioned that you had trouble to get the flexion to improve. I did my own little twist on the heel slide exercise: once you did a few of them to loosen up the knee, keep your knee at the most “bent” position, as in pulled all the way up on the floor/surface, LIFT the leg, keep the bend, point the toe, and put it down. Toe first. Sort of where your heel was. Then gently lower the heel. It will give you a good stretch, and will get you used to that increased angle of flexion. Hold that position for a while, and repeat. It does really help to increase the flexibility of the post TKR knee. Better than pulling it in with straps etc.

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Replies to "@ddsack: I saw that heyjoe addressed the strength aspect of knee replacement recovery. You mentioned that..."
ezas123 | @ezas123 | Sep 23, 2022

Thank you for the tip will try today …. The sheet I find to be very difficult ….. I have hip issue that makes it so much worse than I know it has to be … so thank you I think this tweek will definitely be most helpful….

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heyjoe415 | @heyjoe415 | Sep 23, 2022

That's an interesting take on the foot slide exercise. I'm curious, when I got to that point where I had slid my foot/bent my knee as far as it could go, that is, I felt the strain of the stretch, does this push it further than that, or just lengthen the time you're actually at the max stretch?

These flexion exercises should be done for the first few weeks, until flexion is well over 100 degrees, or whatever your Dr. and PT feels is right. Then you can start working more on strengthening the quads. Finally, strengthening the quads takes time, even if you were in shape prior to surgery. The reason is that the surgeon has to make a slight cut in the quad to release the patella and move it to the side. While that is healing (about two months) the quad will be slightly weaker.

As always, if you experience sharp pain, stop what you're doing.

Thanks eller.

Joe

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