Total Knee Replacement, Anyone?

[rideit]

Gonna get trick aftermarket parts installed on January 16th after a fairly catastrophic injury.
Anyone have this done in the last five years or so?
Would you care to share your experiences, like how long until you were on skis/bike, amount of atrophy, degree of pain, and other fun topics?
How did you approach rehab and working out?
I’m pretty optimistic, but I would love to hear other’s stories.

[plugboots]

Paging oldsteve the geezer.

[t-the-east]

Pretty sure there’s a thread on it. Some of the discussion in the tibial plateau fracture thread, which I’m unfortunately a part of, morphed into knee replacement as well I believe.

Sorry to hear about your injury. Knees suck. Good luck with the new one

[rideit]

Well, like iceman’s thread, having recently done this, I would be happy to answer any questions. I am three weeks out, doing an hour on the indoor trainer at 75-85 rpm’s, so I will get the fitness back pretty quickly. Walking fine, no crutches or cane. I can do most chores again (except lifting heavy things), but running the snowblower/etc is fine, but I am a little sore afterwards. I got off the oxy a week ago, but I have some left over for heavy duty PT days.
LMK if you have questions.

[GeezerSteve]

Anyone have this done in the last five years or so?
Would you care to share your experiences, like how long until you were on skis/bike, amount of atrophy, degree of pain, and other fun topics?
How did you approach rehab and working out?
I’m pretty optimistic, but I would love to hear other’s stories.

Yes. July 10, 2018. Left knee, Stryker Triathlon Titanium prosthesis with patella button, OS Dr. Roux of NWOrtho. Synopsis: New knee is strong and stable. Extension was fine at 2 months. Flexion currently 95-100, a continuing work in progress, better than it was pre-op. (Pre-op ROM is best prediction of post-op ROM.)

Walker for a few days, then cane for a couple weeks. Short walks on flat ground after 2 weeks. Hiked 5 miles on mellow rolling trail at week 7. Started hiking steeper trails thereafter. XC skied 3-1/2 months. Alpine skied (mellow) at 4 months, close to pre-op level at 5 months. 2018-19 was my first 100-day ski season (40 touring, 35 lift-served, 25 XC.) Bicycling came more slowly because of slow progress with flexion. (Full extension came early.) I did 3 week-long off-trail mountain trips last summer, not as gnarly as back in my brah mountaineering days, but managed fine in some rugged and scrambly terrain.

If you don't have an ice water therapy machine, get one. IME, DonJoy > Breg

IME, the key to rehab is to work with a PT who prioritizes function over numbers and works to get full extension early. Flexion will come in time, sometimes months or even a couple years post-op. Too many American PTs are obsessed with ROM numbers to please the insurance carriers and push it too much too soon. It's about healing and function, not numbers.

Bonesmart forum was helpful.

[rideit]

I am at 123 flexion three weeks out with full extension , which is great. I have fantastic PT’s, they say that I am well ahead of schedule. We will be trying a new technique to stimulate muscle growth (not e-stim), I will have more details on that Monday. I also got a Stryker Ti.
Trick, light, aftermarket parts!
I have been having mucho problems with two Breg polar care/Kodiak units not recirculating, working on that now.

[2FUNKY]

I am at 123 flexion three weeks out with full extension , which is great. I have fantastic PT’s, they say that I am well ahead of schedule. We will be trying a new technique to stimulate muscle growth (not e-stim), I will have more details on that Monday. I also got a Stryker Ti.
Trick, light, aftermarket parts!
I have been having mucho problems with two Breg polar care/Kodiak units not recirculating, working on that now.

That’s great news man.

[GeezerSteve]

I am at 123 flexion three weeks out with full extension

Outstanding. I've never heard of such good numbers only 3 weeks out.

[Dantheman]

AC is 16 days out. ROM is about 10-95. Not quite enough flexion to make full revolutions on the spin bike, but close. Two-week follow-up was yesterday and the surgeon was very happy with where she is. Narc use down to 1-2 50mg Tramadol in the evening.

[plugboots]

Outstanding. I've never heard of such good numbers only 3 weeks out.

They lied to him, there’s nothing in there.

[splat]

Ha! You get that icer to work, rideit?

[GeezerSteve]

Funny shit, Tom

My TKR was on my mind yesterday during a tour with some funky snow and steep kick turns. Limited flexion in the TKR knee requires me to sometimes re-engineer existing kick turn tracks, but I all in all I'm happy as shit to be out there, pain free, strong and stable.

Best o' luck to all heading into or recovering from TKR surgery. I hope for each of you it's the big fat reset button it's been for me.

[plugboots]

Funny shit, Tom

My TKR was on my mind yesterday during a tour with some funky snow and steep kick turns. Limited flexion in the TKR knee requires me to sometimes re-engineer existing kick turn tracks, but I all in all I'm happy as shit to be out there, pain free, strong and stable.

Best o' luck to all heading into or recovering from TKR surgery. I hope for each of you it's the big fat reset button it's been for me.

It’s in my future for sure.

[rideit]

Ha! You get that icer to work, rideit?

Yup, it involved draining all of the water and rolling the pad up like a toothpaste tube while depressing the valve. Seems better now. I got to 130 yesterday, pt is hoping for 135 (the max the new knee can go) within two weeks.

[homemadesalsa]

Hey all- I used the search function (amazing! ) as I knew this thread was out there.

Got my long awaited TKA on April 6, in the middle of the covid closures. My surgeon is amazing and found a different hospital that didn't shut down.

Up to now, rehab had been super slow and painful. No matter what I did, couldn't get less than 4* flat and 87* flexion. Some burly scar tissue! So I went in today for the dreaded manipulation under anaesthesia (MUA). And it wasn't bad. I have much better mobility already, plus a painkiller pump and PT first thing tomorrow. Whew wha tdd a relief!

So see you in the hills this summer and winter!

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[rideit]

Wow, salsa, I was just looking at our text exchange not more than ten minutes ago, I was going to send you a text asking how things are going. Matt Goewert just got his done 9 days ago, and is planning on a bike ride tomorrow, so everyone’s progress is different.
As to my knee, I have broken 20 PR’s on rides I have done many, many times, so I couldn’t be happier as of now...

[John_B]

Up to now, rehab had been super slow and painful. No matter what I did, couldn't get less than 4* flat and 87* flexion. Some burly scar tissue! So I went in today for the dreaded manipulation under anaesthesia (MUA). And it wasn't bad. I have much better mobility already, plus a painkiller pump and PT first thing tomorrow.

I remember reading a Joe Simpson's sequel to Touching the Void and he was dealing with something similar. His accidental solution was to get drunk on Red Stripe, stumble, fall and perform the MUA on himself.

I hope you keep having improvements HMS.

[homemadesalsa]

Almost 2 weeks post MUA, now I have 114 degrees flexion and getting close on extension. Just rode a real bike outside. Whew. That was 6 weeks of suffering and now some accelerated improvement.

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[Norseman]

Congrats, hope you see continued improvement

[powdork]

Got mine done yesterday. Was able to walk unassisted in the hospital last night. But after being discharged this morning I had to back in to the office to get a new bandage plus some steristrips since it’s a bleeder. We’re already soaking through this new one too





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[grinch]

Gnarly!! Super cool you can walk on it already. Amazing how far theyve come with replacements

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[jerlane]

Got mine done yesterday. Was able to walk unassisted in the hospital last night. But after being discharged this morning I had to back in to the office to get a new bandage plus some steristrips since it’s a bleeder. We’re already soaking through this new one too





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WTF is that??? That incision is massive! Please tell me that’s like your fifth knee surgery and they had to remove all sorts of hardware and not a just primary knee replacement.

[powdork]

One surgery for the Tibea Plateau, one for the removal of the hardware, and this one. They all went down that far, this one goes much higher up the leg

[powdork]

Gnarly!! Super cool you can walk on it already. Amazing how far theyve come with replacements

Can't any more. But it's mstly because it would start bleeding again. They're also super right about the second night being the worst.

The most amazing advance to me is the lifespan. They're saying 20-40 years.

[grinch]

Can't any more. But it's mstly because it would start bleeding again. They're also super right about the second night being the worst.

The most amazing advance to me is the lifespan. They're saying 20-40 years.

Fingers crossed its just a few rest days before you get to work on the rom. 20-40 years is longer than i wouldve thought. Thats pretty damn good. I guess it was quite a few years ago they told a friend his hip replacement was a 10-20 year lifespan but i think they can just replace the ceramic sockets. The ti rods in the femur and hip dont have to be replaced. Healing vibes man. Youll have it

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