Knee Replacement Issues-Help Please!

Hope so as well for you

Hi!
From what I read you say; I would choose not to get it replaced. I am 67 and had successful TKR. I didn’t wait as I could have ( was not in severe pain, had some success with gel shots), but I did it because I knew the recovery was a year and did not want to wait until I was older. I did the pre surgery exercises, PT after and finally after 4 months was out of pain. At 5 months I have times where my knee is stiff , and just uncomfortable. I rode my exercise bike every day and do 20 min. of exercise also.
Walking and golf I look forward to soon. If you are comfortable enough and can do what you want in your day to day; I would not put my body through this at 81. Just my opinion

Plan on a full year to recover. I am 6 months post TKA and doing well but still not 100%.

I would have to say that I am just under 5 months post op TKR and I now feel I have a better understanding of things.
First off. I can see that it takes about a year to recover. You are looking at muscle and nerve regrowth along with bone repair and there is no way you can achieve that in 3 months when you are over 55. Just because we might be walking, swimming or riding our exercise bike we think we are back to normal but things on the cellular level are still not normal. It is also important to remember that exercise in general causes micro tears to muscle tissue and recovery is part of the strengthening process. Now if we have had a TKR and going about exercising with damaged muscle tissue these micro tears that happen are a set back and need to recover. I think most of us try to do too much and I have found anything weight bearing to be the worst for aggravating my knee. Swimming for me is the best and going on my stationary bike with very little tension (moving the legs forward and backwards) is also good. I have a walking bike called the Alinker which I use outside and can’t say enough about. It is fabulous look it up online.
Easy muscle strengthening calisthenics are also important
If possible it is good to carry on with PT but sometimes in my opinion some of the prescribed exercises can be too much if overly weight bearing. For me as much as I love to walk which was the main reason for having the surgery when I do so for an extended period of time now my knee becomes inflamed and it hurts and sets me back. I find icing never really removes the deep swelling (Compression stockings help)
So choose your exercises wisely so inflammation doesn’t set you back.
My little dog haf TPLO surgery on her knee which consists of cutting the top of the tibia (bone below the knee), rotating it, and stabilizing it in a new position with a bone plate and screws. Thinking back to how she recovered has been a good lesson for me. About 5 months post op she looked good but it wasn’t until a year later that she was optimum and running like she was a puppy again.
The other big thing I would have to say is body weight . It is important not to be varying extra weight. Again in my opinion, the extra weight is only crushing your knees when you try to do weight-bearing activity. I also started a year pre surgery doing a modified eating schedule whereby I do not eat after 8 pm or before 10:00 am. Combining the exercise I was doing I lost 20 pounds but it was the modified eating that took off the extra weight. I still follow this and eat what I want in between 10am and 8 pm and don’t feel as though I am sacrificing anything.
I don’t think that the surgeons are up front when they’re talking about recovery time and the importance of weight management or effective exercise. Bottom line as difficult as it has been for me to accept this expect to be in recovery for a year and during that time do not overdo it or do anything that’s going to set you back significantly.

Sounds like you are progressing normally except for the bowing out of the knee. Don’t understand why if the surgeon used a make, or similar, assist-guided technical
procedure to guide him through the alignment.
I just had my second done on the 19th of this month.
Have been without a cane nor walker after 4 days but yes, the swelling, pain etc…. Will stay with you for quite some time. Atleast 6-months on swelling. Overall a year and you will never think about it again. But the havoc it wreaks on the body for atleast a month it difficult, couldn’t agree more.
I’m 75 in two months so be glad you are getting it done now, gets so much more difficult the older you get. Good luck.
Vince

I had my knee surgery two years ago on February 7. I am in a lot of pain and discomfort and it is worse than pain before surgery. Surgeon retired and wasn’t even there for my follow up. I now have a new doctor who won’t do the other knee until we find out the cause of my pain. Having X-rays, MRIs, bloodwork. So far, no answers. Walking is getting very difficult. I do have peripheral neuropathy. I just found out from my recent X-rays that I have a steel rod from my knee both above and below the knee cemented in place. I was shocked. I don’t have that big a scar, so how did that get those rods in there?

Has anyone had persistent lateral knee pain on outside of knee cap eg for over a year? I have been researching this issue and suspect I have an aggravated popliteal tendon caused by my tkr which was done august 2021. Trying to find specialist who can give injection to definitively determine this is my issue. If I get immediate pain relief then an arthroscopic surgery would be done to relieve the pain. Live in California so someone in this part of the country would be most convenient. Thanks everyone

I had two TKRs in August 2022 (right knee) and September 2022 (left knee). Immediately following the surgery on my left knee, I experienced a sharp, highly defined, and painful snapping or popping of soft tissue in the postero-lateral (back outside) area of my knee. The snapping or popping, which continues to a somewhat lesser extent even today five months post surgery, occurs at perhaps 20-25 degrees within the range of flexion, such as when I'm going up or down stairs or riding a stationary bike, and it even at times makes an audible popping sound. My surgeon, other doctors, and physical therapists don't know exactly which soft tissue is being affected or what's causing it, but I have a sensation that the popping tissue is diagonally oriented behind my knee, very close to where one of my hamstrings connects, and I've come to guess that it might be the popliteus tendon, though I don't know that for sure. I never experienced this popping or snapping prior to surgery.

These are strange symptoms. Has your surgeon or you considered a loose prosthesis? Maybe the cement has been damaged or the bone isn't fusing properly with the metal.

My first thought was the PCL ligament, but along with the ACL, these are usually removed during TKR. Sorry......