Kneeling After TKA

Thanks for your input, Joan. Good luck with your other knee!

I've had both knees replaced. Right in 2021, left in 2023. I was very disappointed with not being able to kneel on them as I do flower gardening and have grandchildren/great grandchildren who I would play on the floor with. I've found the only way I can kneel is to use a very thick memory foam pillow or two when I want to get down/up from the floor. When I don't have the pillow(s) handy, I have learned to roll to my side & use my feet & hands to get up. I'm 66...not sure how long this will be an option for me. I still have to figure out something for working in the flower garden. Possibly using a small step stool to assist in getting up will be the answer. Best of luck.

I agree it feels like there's a reflex to avoid it! My knees started swelling when I was in my 20's if I tried to kneel on them, so I got used to sitting on the ground for all my gardening and other chores. After my TKR I just "felt" like I wouldn't be able to get up off the floor if I sat down, because of that brief time I'd need to transition from sitting on the floor to standing. I'd read that something like half of us simply feel uncomfortable kneeling after the TKR. One day, about a year after the TKR, I just suddenly felt I could do it! I sat on the floor to fix something, then stood back up the way I used to do it! Wow! That brief contact with the floor wasn't bad at all. Now I am much more confident about doing the things I used to do.

I had double TKR August 2025 . Surgeon told me to practice kneeling everyday ..I can kneel on a bed pillow on my lazy boy…for like 2 minutes .. I keep thinking I should try to get down and off the ground just incase , but I’m a bit scared 🙃

I feel a lot of this struggle is mind over matter … keep the faith everyone! We can do this

Lee valley has a kneeling stool that flips over and is a bench .. there are knock offs too

False prophets ? I’d rather not take drugs personally …. I love my two new knees and thank god for their knowledge and wisdom everyday ….

Thank you! I'll definitely check into that. 🙂

Fact vs anecdotal accounts (no judgments, but facts carry more weight imo.)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6667980/

My PT said, some can, some can't. And can try starting at when full range of motion is reached, around 125-130 . And start S L O W L Y

Very good article at the link given!
I was struck by this paragraph which I copied :

Discrepancies between patients’ self-reported ability to kneel and observed ability suggests that patients can kneel but elect not to. Reasons for this are multifactorial, including knee pain/discomfort, numbness, fear of harming the prosthesis, co-morbidities and recommendations from health professionals. There is currently no evidence that there is any clinical reason why patients should not kneel on their replaced knee, and reasons for not kneeling could be addressed through education and rehabilitation.