I'm six weeks out from tkr, I'm only at 90 to 95

Welcome @cgbi.. So glad you came into this Connect community where there are so many caring and supportive people. I had a TKR in April 2017 and I totally understand your discouragement and fear. It is hard at first. From my experience, I'd say that at 6 weeks, you need to be icing often, doing your PT as you can, and being very forgiving of yourself. Did I mention that it is HARD at first. I promise you that it will get easier. What is the hardest part for you right now? We have a bunch of people here who have had TKRs. I'm going to tag @contentandwell who has been through this too. Maybe she has additional advice. I'm going to to also ask you to check back in 2 weeks from now. I'll bet you are going to see a world of difference. I know I did between 6 weeks and the 8 week mark. Wishing you sound sleep and relief from discomfort!

@cgbi Sleep would have been a problem for me without medication. That was really the only time I did take any medications.

My doctor has a great track record, but his philosophy is quite different than typical. He does not believe in icing for the first six weeks. It does bring the swelling down a bit, but it also prevents the healing blood from getting to the site, delaying healing. He is also opposed to rigorous PT.

After my second TKR, I had more pain than after the first one but it suddenly lifted, almost overnight, and then I was able to walk all over the place! My TKR was on October 25, 2017. I was walking all over NYC on December 8th. I was really upset a week or so before that because we were going to NYC for my daughter's wedding reception and I thought I wouldn't be able to be on my feet much but I was amazingly fine.

My flex is still not what I would like. I saw my ortho last week and he said he can do a small outpatient procedure that will give me better flex so I think I will do that after the first of the year.

So, stay positive, and hopefully your recovery will be as good as mine was.
JK

To cbgi: I agree with 2 previous posts that even 1 week at your stage can make a huge difference. I’m 7 weeks out, and super lucky. Low pain levels, still wake up once or twice a night with twinges, but ok. Perhaps 2 Aleve/week if it gets rough. I would concentrate first on getting some sleep - that to me was more debilitating than anything else. Flex may take a while, depends on many variables. I was made to do pre-tkr exercises 3 weeks prior to surgery, and I believe that the muscle tone-up helped with quicker improvement afterwards. And for me it was more productive to do fewer heel slides, but hold them for at least 5 seconds in the bent position. Other than that, I hope that your recovery speeds up from here on out!

Thank you all,
I'm going to do my best, but it just doesn't feel like I'm getting the progress I should be. I'll check in in about a week. Thanks

I am surprised by this approach of not icing, and not really pushing PT initially. Perhaps a worthwhile option. Hosever, part of the reason to apply ice frequently, at least in the first 3 weeks or so, was to minimize pain. I wonder how one would compensate for that .... more pain meds?

@ellerbracke my doctor was not too generous with pain meds either, the current thought being that ibuprofen does just about as good a job. Unfortunately, being post-transplant, I can only take Tylenol which is not an anti-inflammatory, but I managed. I admit, at times it was not easy, but if I can take something at night I’m OK.
As I said before, my in-home PT person was totally respectful of the doctor because he had worked with his patients before and had seen the success rate. He managed to help me a lot with PT that was within the parameters.
JK