9 months post op TKR - Still experiencing pain

I'm truly sorry to hear about your ongoing pain and difficult recovery experience. Nine months is a long time to endure such intense suffering, and it sounds like it's affecting every aspect of your life.
The fact that you've been diligently following your physical therapy regimen three times weekly, plus home exercises, yet still experiencing excruciating pain is concerning. The MUA procedure and that severe pain episode you described sounds particularly traumatic.
Depression is a common but serious complication when dealing with chronic pain, creating a difficult cycle that can actually intensify the pain experience. Your mental wellbeing deserves just as much attention as the physical symptoms.
Before your upcoming surgery on the other knee, you might want to:

Request a comprehensive pain management consultation if you haven't already
Discuss with your surgeon whether there might be complications from the first surgery that weren't detected
Ask about alternative pain management approaches like specialized nerve blocks, different medication combinations, or even pain psychology

It might also be worth getting a second opinion from another orthopedic specialist, particularly one who specializes in complex knee recovery cases.
How has your surgical team responded to your reports of continued severe pain? Are they acknowledging the severity of what you're experiencing?

Hi Romna, I am so sorry for all that you are going through with such disabling pain and depression. I had a TKR in 2020 in a top Boston hospital, with one of their best surgeons, and I experienced much of what you are going through now. I had reactions to several pain meds and was told to take Tylenol. The pain from the surgery was excruciating!!! I couldn’t sleep at night and had a very hard time doing home exercises because of the pain. I had never experienced depression before this surgery, but believe me, terrible depression came! I couldn’t eat and lost 18 pounds in a couple of weeks. My husband was trying to help me but it was very difficult for him to see me like that. My left knee is bad right now, but I just cannot see myself going through a surgery like that ever again. My dr wasn’t all that sympathetic…….just told me that it is “the roughest surgery anyone can go through”. The knee that was replaced is not in great shape….pain and stiffness. The left knee is not good at all, but I will *never* put myself through that surgery again. Like you, I went to PT twice a week for six months. My PT person was wonderful and encouraging and really helped me (physically and emotionally). I am so sorry for all that you are going through right now. Wishing you all the best with healing and a reduction in pain, along with depression. I know exactly how you feel. MaryAnn from Boston

I hope you have chosen a different surgeon to perform the total knee replacement on the other knee.
Your situation is very unusual and my suspicion is the surgery and especially, the surgeon!!
Is your surgeon a high volume orthopedic surgeon that ONLY performs hip and knee surgeries? You do not want a general orthopedist, who performs all different joint replacements.
How does your surgeon choose “replacement parts” ? ? You want an engineer or someone technologically sophisticated choosing parts.
In the meantime, find an experienced revision hip and knee surgeon.

I’m going through increasingly worse pain in right knee at 10 months. It hurts very bad in certain positions but don’t think I twisted it. Hurts underneath, right side and a short little pain on top right of knee cap. Worse pain when getting up. And I feel (more than hear) a clicking when walking.

Oh, my, recovering from TKR is not easy. I am having night pain at nearly 8 months. Days are fine except I am shattered from lack of sleep, so much of my life is on hold. I saw my surgeon today and he said there is not much they can do - it takes time. NSIDs don’t touch the pain, and I don’t have a
prescription. I forgot to ask him, but will, if there is any reason I should
not try gummie canabis. I am in Ottawa and there is a shop nearby as it is legal.

I am 6 months post TKR and wish I never did it. This is the hardest thing I have ever endured in my life. I was a golfer, backpacker, gardener, walker and all around very active person. I had the surgery as I was bone on bone and was told that the replacement would help me once again enjoy these activities pain free. After 6 months of diligent physical therapy both in the clinic, at home and in the gym, I am still having a difficult time walking without a limp and pain. I am now on my second Orthopedist and second physical therapist. Everyday is a vicious cycle of trying to figure out what to do next to see improvement. I feel like I am grasping at straws with little hope in sight. I am typically a very up person but this surgery and very slow recovery has knocked me down hard....my mood is very depressed. They say this recovery takes an entire year but almost everyone I speak with who has undergone this surgery is physically well beyond where I am at this stage. X-rays show the implant looks fine, MRI shows soft tissue around implant is fine. They are suggesting PRP injections....has anyone had any good results from this? Has anyone been at my stage and seen a turn around this far into recovery? Looking for a little hope.

Dear hiker123: Your post sounds like my experience. By seven months I was deeply hopeless, and by eight I was ready to give up completely. By nine I was angry and desperate again. At that point the whole leg was in pain. I couldn't stand for more than five minutes and it would immediately swell up. Finally I went to a different doctor. He is a physiatrist who deals more with muscular problems in the limbs. He doesn't do all those spine injections. He also has a background in sports mey. He touched two places around my knee and found the inflamed bursae immediately. Then he found all the other hot spots in the thigh, calf, and hip. Six sessions of sonar shockwave therapy and I am good. I walk every day. The pain is gone. The swelling has finally mostly stopped. Stiffness is reduced. Exercise is finally help rather than hurting. Some of the therapy exercises were aggravating the tissues over and over. Don't give up. Just back off and rest frequently and get a new doctor. Sometimes a change of specialty brings a fresh perspective and different background experience. Since you are an athlete you might look for someone who treats athletes. The surgeons seem to only be interested in the hardware they put in. All those body tissues around that hardware need as much attention as the joint. Get some new medical pros on your care team. Best wishes to you. You should not have to stay like you described. I am one year out and finally able to stop thinking about how bad the leg is all day long. I hope you get there soon.

I am convinced that orthopedic surgeons and their teams purposely do not tell potential TKA patients about the very real and likely pain and suffering they will go through for weeks to months and possibly years due to unknown factors that lead to these outcomes. They sell a procedure to people already in pain, knowing full well that more pain and suffering will certainly occur before any benefits will be felt.

I agree with you. I am 6 and a half months from my tkr. I still cannot bend my knee all the way. Some days it hurts more than others. I am in pain everyday. They now tell me I will get better at 18 months. I feel like they lied to me about the whole thing.

Absolutely. Surgeons should be required to disclose the loss of flexion at the initial consultation and not solely in the consent form given when the IV is already in place. I’m 10 months post-op and got only 110 degrees, which materially affects my life. If I end up pain-free, then the loss of flexion might have been worth it. But I still have pain except, ironically, when I’m walking. Before the surgery, I had pain all the time.