Hi @debbie64131 – Welcome to Connect! You found a good thread here with lots of people who have experienced issues similar to what you mention with scar tissue. I also had a TKR in January and thankfully, my recovery was pretty smooth with no scar tissue issues. Even with that said, I did really benefit from acupuncture and I have loved being able to get in the pool and do my exercises there. So much easier. I'm going to tag a few people who may be able to share some of their insights with TKR recovery and scar tissue – @babette, @gator1965 and @ellerbracke. Meantime, have you tried acupuncture, water therapy or any of the "alternative" therapies?

Thanks so much for reaching out to me. I have done water therapy & it works great while I’m in the pool but it doesn’t take long after I go home for the bands to come back. I’ve had months of therapy but I haven’t tried acupuncture.

I also have had months of therapy, acupuncture knee manipulation cortisone shots water therapy nothing g is helping me either I am suppose to get a knee scope done tomorrow but unsure if I want to

I have tried everything to break up the scar tissue, including 25 laser treatments, but nothing has worked. I am meeting with a surgeon in a few weeks to see about undergoing a lysis procedure.

If I was at 115 degrees I would also not consider undergoing a lysis procedure, but my ROM is bad and getting worse, and lysis is about my last option.

Does acupuncture help? If so, can someone recommend a clinic in Kansas City?

I had lysis and it helped quite a bit. I still have to exercise all the time, but I can do about anything I want now.

What is lysis?

It is an arthroscopic procedure in which they cut out much of the scar tissue. They will usually do a manipulation at the same time as you are already under anesthesia. I had a manipulation planned and my Dr. wanted to scope me while I was out. He said there was so much scar tissue that I would not have been able to overcome it with P.T. So he performed the lysis procedure and it helped quite a bit.
https://www.arthroscopytechniques.org/article/S2212-6287(17)30061-0/fulltext

Oh Dear- There is quite a pattern of sad repetition here-Not for everyone but wow – I'm looking at a 2nd manipulation after a revision after… blah blah- Is there an answer? This is frightening, Expensive and painful- how long can you go on?

That is very encouraging! How long ago did you have the lysis procedure done?

Hi Debbie64131 Since the bands between my knee and my hip were virtually "locked" and nothing worked to relieve it, I went to my accupunturist and he put the "needles" into each of the pain points on the bands that I knew were there, he also found 3 that were moderate and treated them as well. He "cups" the needled areas to bring the bloodflow to the point of pain, (which for me, usually has a huge nodule that defines them). He also treats the areas on my body that he knows need management treatment. Within 4 treatments to my left leg (TKR leg) the bands relaxed and I finally got relief. Because I can still feel some of the nodules, altho they're now small, I continue to have him treat them with management once a month. Accupunture has always been an excellent source of pain relief for me if done correctly. If you can find a "Community Accupunture"therapist, they are dedicated to make the treatments affordable for everyone and have sliding scales. In my city, they change $15-$35 and people pay what they can afford.