Poor range of motion after TKR and manipulation: What to do?

I don’t think so when I had wrong size I could not gain any flexion …. I was stuck at 65 -70…with revision I am sore and stiff all the time like I said I just got tested to see if my body rejecting it …. Just trying to rule out things …. I was going to gym 5 days a week had to back off my other knee is getting bad …

I had a failed knee replacement dec of 22. Then a manipulation jan of 23, then a scope july of 23. Then after finding a revision specialist i had a revision Sept of 24. I a now back to where I was before my first replacement. My knee is twice the size of my other. I can only bend it 65 degrees and I have constant pain and swelling. I can no longer do daily activities safely. I'm unable to walk down a step safely or get in and out of my car without the risk of falling. My quality of life is poor, I went from being a very active person to not being able to participate in anythinh

I had my TKR on November 19th. The doctor arranged for home physical therapy which didn't even start for 8 days after my discharge from the hospital. I wish my doctor had arranged therapy at the Physical Therapy Center where his office is located. Home therapy didn't help and 2 months later, I asked my doctor to do a MUA. The furthest ROM I got was to 80. When I saw the doctor before the MUA, he measured me at 75 ROM. I had the procedure on February 10th and my doctor said he got me to 110! Yesterday, my PT measured me at 103. I am in excruciating pain every time my PT tries to get that next measurement. I'm so tired and I actually become frightened entering the PT office because I know the pain that is coming, It's only been almost 3 months since the TKR. I'm just so tired and no one seems to understand how I'm feeling. I'm not a "quitter", but I thought i'd be doing better! My spouse thinks I'm not trying hard enough, but believe me, I'm giving it everything I've got. I have to go to PT every day last week and next since the MUA, and it's affecting my mood and sleep. Any support much appreciated!

Hi.
I was reading some of the history of this chat and someone mentioned myofascial release. Don't know if there was any follow-up on that might be worth trying. I learned to teach Yin Yoga. It is a methodology that allows the body's fascia to slowly open up by first supporting the active range of motion and then allowing it to increase by removing supporting structures. It is practiced from anywhere from two to 30 minutes for each pose. You start out with supports and slowly remove them as the body opens up (fascia release). It is very gentle but does demand mental discipline.

I had my TKR on November 19th. The doctor arranged for home physical therapy which didn't even start for 8 days after my discharge from the hospital. I wish my doctor had arranged therapy at the Physical Therapy Center where his office is located. Home therapy didn't help and 2 months later, I asked my doctor to do a MUA. The furthest ROM I got was to 80. When I saw the doctor before the MUA, he measured me at 75 ROM. I had the procedure on February 10th and my doctor said he got me to 110! Yesterday, my PT measured me at 103. I am in excruciating pain every time my PT tries to get that next measurement. I'm so tired and I actually become frightened entering the PT office because I know the pain that is coming, It's only been almost 3 months since the TKR. I'm just so tired and no one seems to understand how I'm feeling. I'm not a "quitter", but I thought i'd be doing better! My spouse thinks I'm not trying hard enough, but believe me, I'm giving it everything I've got. I have to go to PT every day last week and next since the MUA, and it's affecting my mood and sleep. Any support much appreciated!

I’ve been doing my facial release twice a month for 3/4 of a year and pay for it out of my own pocket. I do that in conjunction with many other modalities. Part of the journey is finding people who can really help you, medicines that can really help you, sustained activities, which really help you whether it be physical therapy, yoga or walking and a lot of patience. I’ve had many joint replacements over the last 13 years and continued healing occurs in different parts of my body. Try different doctors, watch out for scammers of which there are many taking advantage of people‘s ailments, do the research or have someone do it for you about things that work and things that don’t and keep a positive attitude. Stop hitting your head against the wall if something‘s not working and give yourself a break. A lot of times we deplete our self in our search/ Searches. Try to have some things in your life that distract you. I’ve been at this for 30 years. I’m 67 years old. And I can tell you at 25 years of searching the source and remedies for my arthritis painI found a miracle. It was through this online forum. It was a recommendation of Art cherry capsules (I ordered ZAZZEE brand online for from Amazon that cost of $20.) and I learned I had gout arthritis. My body is riddled with osteoarthritis so the lazy doctors always stopped with that and when I complain too much, they test for RA and tell me I don’t have it. God only knows why they didn’t look for gout arthritis and asked me if I had a family history of that. After taking the ZAZZEE for a few months I asked to be put on the medicine allopurinol like my dad was on. That helped me even more. I had tested in range but high on the supplement but this weekend I did a new test on the allopurinol medicine and I was entirely normal on the blood test for the uric acid. Normal! After 25 years of inflammatory pain in my hands and elsewhere, being entirely stopped in my tracks I am now freed from that kind of inflammatory pain. Of course I got other pains to deal with from disc degeneration along my spine and other joint replacements, but life is a little bit More manageable because I identified one major issue. Life is a struggle, but it’s how we deal with it. I’m a big believer that everyone has something to deal with in this life. Maybe for us it’s our pain or physical pain. Keep on trying new doctors. Keep on researching new treatments. Keep on looking for sources, but don’t forget to live your life, however is important to you and remember you have a gift of life and struggles. Just gonna be part of the gift.

Hi there ... like the others, I had a knee replacement 15 years ago. For some unknown reason it never seemed quite "right" .... always hurt, poor range of motion, etc. My doctor sent me to more PT and after that didn't work, he did a Revision. That worked beautifully. I again did PT and after the PT they would put a TENS Machine on it, and I did everything I could at home to help it. It's now about 13 years later and my knee is as good as my left one. Maybe, like the other poster suggested .... start to walk, slowly at first, and then speeding up, or go to a gym and do a treadmill .... again slowly at first. Good luck. Barb

Wow- the surgeon only went to 110*? Is that a functional joint? Mine showed me a picture of my knee totally bent, about 135*! And I did aggressive daily PT after, and with exercises, I start at about 115* before, and reach 125*.
Your story about in home PT and delay was exactly like mine, so I have always wondered if scar tissue was laid down early.
The memory of 2 therapists pushing and bending my knee where I would literally hit the wall backing off in pain. OMG. Couldn’t retain those numbers for anything.

Stairs are still a PIA going down. I’m not happy with my knee but it does walk and hike at least. Very limiting in so many ways though.

Sounds like me. My PT told me that he was hitting a “hard stop” in trying to bend my leg. He said that he could tell that he was not making progress and recommended suspending PT, to which multiple surgeon agreed. This was because of excessive scar tissue. After that, an MUA, arthroscopic Debridement of scar tissue and an open Debridement for the scarring, my surgeon turns me loose, saying that we are sorry for how it turned out. HSS in Manhattan (for second opinion) recommended revision to a hinged knee. Because of the scarring, they remove all tendons, which are a major area of scarring and the hinge takes on the function of the tendons. I couldn’t use HSS (#1 orthopedic hospital worldwide) because they do not accept insurance. I am trying to get into The Mayo Clinic but have been turned down, as they say that they have more requests than they can accommodate. I am appealing that. It’s a long, painful and frustrating road. I only wish that I knew that I would be one of the ones affected by Arthrofibrosis ( excessive scarring…genetic) and I never would have had the surgery to begin with. Hang in there. I just think of others who have problems a lot worse.