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Miserable from TKR: What can I do to get better?
I had a right TKR 2 weeks ago. I have been miserable. I was in severe pain for 1 1/2 weeks. I am still in pain. I have a lot of stiffness. I have burning in my knee. I am depressed. I can’t sleep. I have taken more medicine in the past 2 weeks then I have in my entire life. I have been having pt at home. I start outpatient pt next week. My lower leg/knee hurts so bad when sitting. I cannot straighten my leg all the way out. When laying down, there is a gap between the bed and the back of my knee. I try to do the exercises that pt told me to do. But it hurts so bad. I wish I would have not had this surgery done!
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Had my TKA March 2020 (one week before COVID shutdown). Recovery was slow and long until it was apparent that knee/leg was hyperextending and I could not walk without assist of cane. Spacer revision was done May 2021 with no significant improvement to date. Of note: back disk disease predates this conundrum w/knee with concurrent difficult walking. I am now scheduled to see a spine surgeon (had been recommended for a fusion surgery years before the knee gave out). I definitely don't want to go down that road if it leads to more dissapointments. Anyone out there lived through this unfortunate situation and can you offer some advice?
Hi @cedarrose, welcome. You'll notice that I moved your message to a similar discussion in the Joint Replacements group (https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/joint-replacements/). I did this so that you can more easily connect with others like @ellerbracke @chickenhaslips @artscaping @sprinrosa64 @labbadia1 @marymelba @norakathryn @loriaakre and others.
I'm sorry to hear that your TKR from March 2020 has not been successful and this is compounded by disk disease and the possible need for fusion surgery. Is it suggested that the issues with the knee get resolved before moving forward?
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1 Reactioncedarrose I am sorry to hear what you are going thru, I had my my TKR Oct 31 2018 and have been in terrible pain since. I have tried 17 procedures since that surgery, shots, cutting some nerves , revision , spinal implants all to no good results. I can't walk 1 step without terrible pain but I refuse to stop searching for an answer . What really help me was Bio feedback attention training and listening to music. I think it is so important to have something YOU REALLY LIKE and do that each day.. Your mental health has to be in the right focus to get thru these days that one never saw coming. Be positive , find what you enjoy and do it BEST OF LUCK
I had a full knee replacement in February 2020. It is still not great. I spent three days in hospital with my leg unable to move at all. Day three my toes moved and they IMMEDIATELY shipped me to a rehab at 3 in the morning. Two weeks there and home PT until all shut down from Covid. I limp, am in pain, and hear click with each step. I cannot go up and down stairs normally. It was an awful experience. I do not want to have surgery in my other bone on bone knee because of this problem. For now I’m doing gel shots. That doctor retired immediately after my surgery leaving me without good follow up. When I tried to contact him with possible infection, he said send a picture. I did and blisters were visible but he said it was just dry skin and use some cream. I went to a dermatologist the next day. It was blisters from an infection and he gave me a steroid cream to clear it and it did. It has been a horrible experience and I’ve tried to get legal help but everyone says no case. It happens. I commiserate with you.
Thank you Sprinrosa and sorry to hear what you are going through after your knee surgery. Yes, I do find things to do that bring me joy- just wish I was more ambulatory….Stay positive
Thank you for your reply. Have you sought other ortho consults? I did have a spacer revision on the knee in May this year in hopes that would help. To date, no great improvement. I will continue to explore if there is anything that can be done to be able to walk normally before I give up. Good luck to you as well.
Sorry to hear of the continued pain and difficulty walking. Did you go to PT after revision? Changing your leg length would also change your gait and the stresses on muscles, tendons and ligaments. A PT is best equipped to help you work through the adjustments.
Sue
I have an appointment with my current ortho in November. He is going to evaluate what’s happening. I’ll let you know.
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1 ReactionThank you Sue for your reply. Yes, I have considered this as contributing, causing the gait difficulty. I guess another go round in PT might help but no initial improvement was achieved. Seeing spine doc today and will get his input on this ongoing conundrum. Thank you
There are PT's and better PT's. You need one who does a full assessment and custom program, not one who says "these are the TKR exercises" and shows you once or hands you an instruction sheet.
Then, ouch, but you need to push through the pain and really work on getting everything stretched, strengthened and realigned.
I went through that after a revision on my hip. It took 3 months of twice weekly sessions and twice daily at home exercises to get rid of my knee, leg and back pain. But 10 years later I'm still moving.
Sue
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