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Scar tissue after knee replacement
Joint Replacements | Last Active: Oct 10 8:31am | Replies (1550)Comment receiving replies
About sciatica. After I had my right TKR, I waited about a year to schedule my left one because I did not think the knee pain bad enough for surgery. During that time, I developed sciatica on my left side. I had a couple of jolting attacks getting out of bed in the morning that were so bad I sank to the floor, but most of the time it was that nagging undercurrent ache waiting for it to strike. I had dry needling and PT exercises which helped some. After I had my left TKR, the sciatica soon went away and has not returned. My left leg was very pigeon toed before surgery, and the surgeon straightened it during the TKR. In retrospect, I'm sure that the sciatica was caused by the way I was twisting and dropping my hip prior to surgery in order to keep the pain off the worst side of my knee, where the cartilage was gone first. Now, since I can put equal weight on both legs and have a more normal straight gait, the pressure is off the sciatic nerve.
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I don't think sciatic nerve pain is considered unusual after TKR. I have struggled with it off and on since my TKR surgery in June 2022. Here' s why: The damage to my knee joint was severe and had caused me to walk knock-kneed. The surgeon told me that being knock-kneed affected my gait and the alignment of my spine. To remedy this, in addition to the joint replacement, during the surgery the doctor straightened my leg by shaving part of the bone. That meant moving some of the nerves in my leg to get to the bone. This procedure aggravated the sciatic nerve on the same side of my body as the surgical knee. So yes, I experienced sciatic nerve pain for several difficult weeks after my TKR. I'm still having sciatic pain off and on (however, not as intense), but my PT therapist assured me this pain should resolve as my spine realigns itself. I did an internet search and found a few exercises that help relieve the pain. It will get better -- don't give up hope!