Should I cancel my TKR surgery?

My impression is that once you have lost cartilage and are bone on bone, exercise to improve muscle strength will not help with pain because you can't replace the cartilage (barring some newer experimental techniques.)

However, it can help to lose 10-20 or more pounds if you are overweight, because then you have less compression pain on the knee which could be enough relief to go a few extra years without surgery.

Oh please don't! If you are bone on bone, it will never get better. I worked for a year in PT to see if I could improve and it only got worse. You will not regret the surgery after you heal.

Good advice. No one wants to deal with weight loss (and not everyone needs to) but it can only help. It is not a permanent solution.

As you note, bone-on-bone does not go away. There are no miracle injections to give you lasting relief and the menisci and articular cartilage will not grow back. A TKR, done by a qualified surgeon with a solid pedigree and happy patients, is likely the best answer.

I'm a 69 y/o male and in my case, the TKRs have been life changing. By all means do exercise to the extent your knees allow before the surgery, and then do everything you're told to do as far as PT. Most of these cases turn out very well. The surgeon has his or her part, but the patient does the most work for a successful outcome.

Thanks for your input. I am going forward with the surgery plus have scheduled to work with a knowledgeable trainer to improve my strength. I have a few weeks to get started before the surgery than will continue with Tony a few months after surgery,

I was scheduled for TKR 2 years ago...canceled because the anesthesiologist didn't like my EKG which, I'm guessing, they never looked at until 14 hours prior to my surgery. To say I was PO'd would put it mildly. Fast forward almost 2 years, both my knees are bone on bone now but I decided to finally see the Cardiologist and he said their canceling the surgery was BS. So, for the past 2 months I've been doing PT and acupuncture several times a week. It's not going to grow cartilage but I have managed to reduce my NSAIDS
to almost none. I believe there are alternatives to TKR so will continue to wait for them to be approved by Medicare. For today, I'm happy with a
wait and see approach and use a cane sometimes and I'm 75. Good luck!

I understand how hard the decision is, I had both knees done, one is fine the other not so much. In fact I curse the day I had it done. It’s been 5 1/2 yrs and the pain I am in is a thousand times worse than the bone on bone I was living with. I am told it’s some sort of nerve pain that can come from any surgery, in other words they don’t know. Your decision isn’t easy and I know I am probably 1 in a million but don’t let anyone tell you it’s no big deal of a surgery. Best of luck and I pray you find your answer

So proud of you. And with a PT named Tony, how could you go wrong! Wishing you all the best. Work HARD before your surgery and you will heal so much faster. Take all your meds post surgery as scheduled so you don't chase the pain. And be sure to have peri-colace and prunes. Seriously. I lost my appetite for about two weeks after surgery. Comfort food was the best. Chicken noodle soup, mashed potatoes and cottage cheese and lemon popsicles. Yogurt in the middle of the night when I had to take my meds so they weren't on an empty stomach. Or a slice of panettone. Merry Christmas 🙂

I understand how hard the decision is, I had both knees done, one is fine the other not so much. In fact I curse the day I had it done. It’s been 5 1/2 yrs and the pain I am in is a thousand times worse than the bone on bone I was living with. I am told it’s some sort of nerve pain that can come from any surgery, in other words they don’t know. Your decision isn’t easy and I know I am probably 1 in a million but don’t let anyone tell you it’s no big deal of a surgery. Best of luck and I pray you find your answer

Thanks for reminding me about prunes! I will be better off losing my appetite for awhile. My got-to food for when that happens is egg custard. Chicken soup is always good..for the body and the soul. And yes to orange popsicles. I wish you many blessings for the coming New Year.