Should I cancel my TKR surgery?

I am in the camp of doing everything I can do to avoid a knee replacement so I would definitely try alternatives. I don’t know if financially you can afford out-of-pocket but eight weeks ago I had an MFAT injection. They harvest fat and then inject that into the infected joint. I am amazed at my progress so far. I started playing pickle ball at four weeks. I was bone on bone that one caveat is that you have to be in relatively good shape for your body to process the fat. From what I read here and the anecdotal evidence from the people I play pickle ball with it seems like 60% of the people are very happy 25% of the people are OK and 15% of the people are very sorry they had a replacement. Good luck with your decision

Has a TKR been recommended? I would think so.

Either way, working with a trainer to strengthen your knees and core is always a good idea. Exercise may eliminate the need for the surgery, and worst case, it prepares you well if/when you have the surgery. Assuming no other major health concerns, 78 shouldn't be a barrier to getting a TKR.

So yeah, find a good trainer and develop a good routine. FWIW, I did this and had both knees replaced at age 68. The "pre-hab" helped a lot.

All the best!

I've had both knees replaced and am very happy. I avoid all impact sports, even pickleball. Everyone is different. I'm only 69 and don't want to have them replaced again. I do a lot of indoor rowing and spinning. Feel great.

I think your stats on TKR satisfaction are about right. I've also noticed that people who are serious about pre-hab and post op exercising do the best, not a surprise.

Joe, you gave me my chuckle for this morning "...I do a lot of indoor rowing and spinning...."
I pictured you on high-flying circus rings, spinning and twisting in the air, and thought "I'd like to join his gym"🤣
Sue

Even if you have surgery you should have 6-8 weeks physical therapy to strengthen your muscles. Maybe that can hold your surgery off. If you end up in surgery you will recover quickly.
Find a great DPT for therapy
Good luck

My impression is that once you have lost cartilage and are bone on bone, exercise to improve muscle strength will not help with pain because you can't replace the cartilage (barring some newer experimental techniques.)

However, it can help to lose 10-20 or more pounds if you are overweight, because then you have less compression pain on the knee which could be enough relief to go a few extra years without surgery.

I was scheduled for TKR 2 years ago...canceled because the anesthesiologist didn't like my EKG which, I'm guessing, they never looked at until 14 hours prior to my surgery. To say I was PO'd would put it mildly. Fast forward almost 2 years, both my knees are bone on bone now but I decided to finally see the Cardiologist and he said their canceling the surgery was BS. So, for the past 2 months I've been doing PT and acupuncture several times a week. It's not going to grow cartilage but I have managed to reduce my NSAIDS
to almost none. I believe there are alternatives to TKR so will continue to wait for them to be approved by Medicare. For today, I'm happy with a
wait and see approach and use a cane sometimes and I'm 75. Good luck!

Oh please don't! If you are bone on bone, it will never get better. I worked for a year in PT to see if I could improve and it only got worse. You will not regret the surgery after you heal.

I encourage you to get it done. It’s been over a year now since I had mine done and what I am most impressed with is my ability to go up and down stairs without using a handrail and safely step on and off curbs. I never realized how shaky I was on curbs and now I do not feel as though I might lose my balance and fall.
At the end of the day you can only patch up the tires on an old car so much before they need to be replaced. I think of knees in the same way.

Hmmm, joining the circus??? I do get kinda bore sometimes in retirement. Thx for the idea! Or maybe Cirque de Soleil? Nevermind........