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Limited ROM after total knee replacement.
Hi, I seem to be stuck around 90 degree ROM following tkr surgery 20 weeks ago. I went to PT for two months and have been doing post op stretches and exercises daily. I've had constant swelling ever since the surgery and recovery has been very slow because of it. I've also had several prior surgeries on the same knee so figure scar tissue is at least a big part of the problem. I was wondering what options are available to me without doing a MUA? Any thoughts or suggestions?
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Hi, @ozziegee, and welcome to Connect. Sorry to hear your range of motion (ROM) is not progressing as you’d hoped.
I would like to connect you with members @niazumbanut , @beatricefay , @cobweb , @nancylh , and @gailfaith , who have all talked about knee replacement. I hope they will share some of their experience with you.
While we wait for a response, I am wondering if you’ve by any chance talked to your surgeon about your recovery and how things are going?
@ ozziegee Sorry to hear that after so long you haven't progressed beyond 90 degrees. Do you have access to a stationary bike?
With my first TKR , I lowered the seat so the knee would get flexed. And then in the max position of bend, I would hold it there for a while. You may have to start with the seat a little higher at first. But you get the idea I'm sure. @gailfaith
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2 ReactionsHi Ozziegee.
Sounds like you're stuck in a frustrating place. My TKA was 1-5-17. The swelling has never gone away completely. My knee, entire leg and ankle remain swollen. I've tried ice, compression socks (they helped a little) etc. but still swollen. My surgeon's assistant just keeps telling me it is normal for up to a year. How encouraging. The scarier part is when something in there moves and then it pokes and hurts, but we'd better not go there.
Anyway, this is about you, not me. As gailfaith pointed out above, movement, bending, stretching, all of those exercises PT gave you are what make the difference. When i would go into PT my ROM would be like 94, coming out 104.
You indicated that you are doing all of the exercises and stretches (i was not very consistent with this) so i just wonder if they need to change which exercises you should do. Over the five months of PT, mine changed every week. I go back to PT next week to see if i kept the ROM and can quit therapy.l
My PTs used some stick thing to rub out the scar tissue. OUCH. Not sure if that works on previous scar tissue though. What is a MUA?
I'm not happy with the exercises the last PT gave me. The student PT i had gave more exercises---may resume those. He has moved on.
Sorry i don't have better info for you. I guess at this point we need to just keep doing the exercises and walking. Or maybe check with a different PT to see what else can be done. And as always ask the guy upstairs to heal it.
Nancy
three years later my bowling ball, that is what i call the device in the knee , is still heavy and it swells, but i am use to it by now. Nothing else i can do. I was told by my friends, no problem, piece of cake, be out playing tennis in no time. Well, no more tennis, my body hates surgery, and that is why i opted for stem cells. I guess i am fortunate it had worked for me. Keep the faith and move on with your life.
This is a free forum u can participate in to ask laymen questions to other laymen, confidentially about any medical problem u have...I follow it fo knees and hips...find much information but unfortunately many people who have had problems.
Thought that was what I was doing? I'm new, still trying to figure the website out.
Google Mayo Clinic post knee replacement exercises, YouTube. A wonderful 4 miniute 30 second video will pop up as well as other similar videos...I recommend just the Mayo videos. I do so because my wife and myself have had excellent surgical outcomes from Mayo. I have had two knee replacements,one hip...just returned from Zumba class that I participate in 6 days a week. I also do weight training including squat, quad lifts which strength the muscles around the knee.However I caution you that I do under the supervision of a personal trainer who is excellent.Personal training like physical therapy are booming occupations as baby boomers ( I'm 70) have exploded these fields. My wife has had two hips a knee and soon to be another knee, successfully at Mayo .... Her second knee per her Mayo doctor will be done when she decides she needs it...Mayo doctors are paid on salary to drive the Mayo brothers philosophy of medicine...Google it.Another example of the Mayo mindset is when I went to two orthopedic surgeons where I lived they both told me I needed knee replacement immediately. Mayo said I need to do nothing immediately and I would know when I would need the surgery. I went another two years,which is important as the prosthesis have a 1% failure rate per year so the older you are the better.While my wife and myself had physical therapy at Mayo...2 days they did not push it afterwards. Mayo gave exercises like in the video for us to do on out own and emphasized ,just move. I did try PT after my first TKR.First session was good,second awful ...a young kid who did not know what he was doing. So I went back to my yoga practice which helped. My wife did no therapy beyond what she had at Mayo. It took me a year to get over the swelling and pain...especially at night. My wife recovered exponentially better than I did,You know men are babies. I recommended a yoga posture call legs up the wall to help with swelling,can find on net,probably on Youtube. Be compassionate with yourself!
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1 ReactionYep, that is what you are doing. The website is a bit intimidating, like a big dark jungle. I still get lost.
Guess I'll check out the Mayo rehab video. Never thought of that as the Mayo refused to do my knee surgery. Be great to get back in to yoga too, except my knee doesn't bend in the right direction. Someone said that's because the metal is not that flexible. So....i don't know. I just know my student PT person was good and helped a lot. The PTAs not so much. He was attentive and knew his stuff. Very professional and should have passed his final test last week making him a bona fide PT (seven years of training).
Hope you find something that works for you. This swelling stuff gets a bit old after a while.
Is this what you meant my MUA? Manipulation Under Anesthesia (MUA) is multidisciplinary manual therapy treatment system which is used to improve articular and soft tissue movement using ... I guess they told me about that as an option if i didn't get the ROM going. Scary, but then i think they clean out the scar tissue too which probably helps.
Blessings
Yeah, I'll try the rehab video as well. Think I've seen just about all the tretching, bending exercises but worth a shot. MUA is manipulation under anesthesia. They knock you out and then the surgeon bends your knee back attempting to break up the scar tissue.
So curious why did Mayo refuse to do your TKR...which location?