From my TKR experience, it is important to arrive at the day of your surgery with your legs – especially your quadriceps – in as good shape as possible. This may not be easy, particularly if you’ve excruciating pain prior to surgery. I was the beneficiary of a federal study (offered by my ortho-surgeon) charting the pre- and post-op health of the leg muscles, chiefly the quadriceps. The sessions I attended in the weeks leading up to surgery involved some heavy-duty workouts, resulting in my right leg (my operated leg) being pretty strong on the morning of my TKR. Post-op, I returned to these workouts (after sufficient at-home rehab) to measure the effect the TKR had on my leg strength. I recall being told by one of the technicians running the study that experience had shown that a patient’s quadricep – one of the body’s strongest muscles – is the muscle that is most often negatively affected by TKR and that one way to assist in achieving a speedy and full recovery from TKR is to have your quadricep in the best possible shape prior to surgery. My TKR was more than ten years ago. If this is still spoken of in ortho-circles, I don’t know.