Any TKR graduates out there with noisy knee?

@heyjoe415 : Yes. I agree. How the knee works trumps all. I noticed you said “knees”. 2 of them? Really? I did one after limiting pain (torn meniscus, bone spurs, etc.) hobbled me and after repair surgery did not help even with extended PT, cortisone, hyaluronic injections, I bit the bullet. Without doing enough research (robot-assisted, conformis knee, etc.) - time pressure, trust in Ortho, babe-in-woods - I got your basic knee replacement surgery.
… . Same hypothetical situation today: first, PRP. Then stem cell. Then custom surgery for TKR. Anyway, I ended up with a superior outcome, but average recovery and quite a lot of pain, due to nomo opioids after about day 8 (I was going nuts being stuck at home, and wanted to go out and drive somewhere / anywhere to take mind of things). My admiration for having both knees replaced, and both of them working well. It does help if one is in good shape before the surgery, which I also was, very much, so. Still, I do miss the easy dropping to my knees to look for something under a couch, or having to dust a low bookshelf. Not a good feeling, even with only one fake knee. But - I dust less often now.

Thanks for the excuse on dusting.....

I had both knees replaced this year, 2022 - one in March and one in July. Best thing I've evert done for myself. I found a great surgeon who used the Mako robotic assistant. Second knee stayed a little swollen for about 6-8 weeks, but now both look and feel great.

I can look under a bed (for my cat) but it's a little tricky and I don't do it often!

Joe

I have a lot of noise with both of my replacements. I just tell people that my tie rods are loose. As you said, there is no pain related to the noise, but it is a little disconcerting. If, when sitting, I raise my leg with the knee bent and swing my lower leg left and right it pops bad enough to hear it across the room. I have grown accustomed to it and it no longer bothers me because I don’t sense any failure in the knee. That is not to say that after two years I have no pain. Both knees burn terribly and neuropathy in feet when I am sitting drives me crazy. It still beats the condition of the old knees!

First question is that I recently contracted Covid at 14 weeks post TKR. The first few days I was sick and had a high fever however then I just had a lingering cough and stuffy nose. Been trying to keep up on my exercises and riding my bike.
Second question is that my knee is sore and sometimes hurts but that tight band feeling I have had is almost gone,. Even after exercising it's not bothering me much anymore. Maybe because for two days I did nothing but stay in bed, I did get a doppler on day 2 of covid and tested negative for any blood clots (calf pain) but now I don't have much of that anymore either. The only thing that really bothers me is that my knee is sore and it clicks when I walk. Does that sound normal to anyone? Hopefully the knee soreness goes away. Surgeon told me in an email from here on out if I have pain or need mediation to see my PCP unless something was really bad. That did kind of bother me because he did the surgery. I feel as though now that he's done his thing he wants to be done and have others take care of any post op issues or questions. Thanks for any suggestions.

Hi Cindy, you can connect with other members talking about post TKR issues with clicking and noisy knee in this discussion:
- Any TKR graduates out there with noisy knee? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/any-tkr-graduates-out-there-with-noisy-knee/

I hope you are recovering well from getting Covid. Might you be able to return to a physical therapist for guidance about the knee?

I am 11 months post TKR. Clicking and clunking started about 3 months post op. It has continued and the knee clicks,clunks or makes crunching noises with every movement. Some leg movement feels like appliance is shifting around in my knee. No pain but extremely annoying. Doc blows it off and PT wasn’t concerned.

Absolutely, clicking knee, another unpleasant surprise from the biggest mistake of my life. Six months after TKR, the knee started clicking with every bend and so we scheduled (yet another) surgery to remove the scar tissue. The clicking stopped but 3 weeks later it was back so now I am pursuing UltraSound Guided Injections. I'm not an MD, but this is my understanding. Ultrasound allows the doc to visualize the dead portion of the patellar tendon. Using long, painful needles, (photos attached) the doc removes the dead portion of the tendon and waits a month to see if healthy tendon fibers grow back. In two weeks, I will know the answer but I'm not hopeful because oldsters don't grow tendons as well as youngsters. It is my non professional opinion that this problem could have been avoided if the original surgeon didn't cut the tendon, and instead, worked around it just like the Saphenous nerve but that would have taken more time.

While clicking may be mildly annoying & imflammatory, what u r doing every time you bend the knee is chafing the tendon against a fixed surface, your prosthetis. Tendons are composed of strands just like the rudder cables in the airplanes I build. The question is, how many chafes will the tendon suffer before it lets go? Imagine a rudder with no cables attached. That's a bullet I'd just as soon dodge so my 3-4x per week exercise routine bends the left knee (which suffers only from arthritis) much more than the right, "repaired" TKR knee. In essence, I am reducing the number and severity of abrasions inflicted on the clicking tendon which means extended biking, hiking, and squats are impossible until it heals (if ever).

Discuss with your doc.

What do they inject into your knee, cortisone? Am interested as I have had clicking for over a year. Every orthopedist says it’s normal ! I have had intense lateral knee pain so am interested in any safe non surgical procedure that may help.

My recollection is the doc used the "needle" to excise/cut the dead tissue inside the tendon. I think of them as strands inside a cable such as the cables that hold up bridges or cables on bicycle brakes. He injects some form of pain deadener to reduce the pain of a long needle probing. During this procedure he's observing the trajectory of the needle and the dead tissue via Ultrasound. In essence, he is leaving a void where there was once tendon and hopes that my aging body will heal. After my next visit which is in 2 weeks, I will ask what chemicals he is injecting to reduce the pain. IMO, had the surgeon taken the time to move the tendon aside, I wouldn't be having this problem.

Before I had the TKR in my right knee, I tried cortisone in both knees which afforded relief for +/- 3 months. Subsequent shots didn't last as long. On my left knee, which suffers from arthritis and excess racquetball during my younger years, I'm trying Hyaluronic Acid. Thus far it's 2 months old and still working but the greatest amount of relief (for me) has been weight loss. Hope my info helps.

Thanks for your reply. I tried cortisone twice and hyaluronic acid before surgery which did nothing. They usually inject lidocaine for pain. Is your procedure considered arthroscopy or is there a specific name for it? Is this person a specialist in doing this? Any information will help, thanks.