Has anyone undergone knee replacement surgery? I went to the doctor to find out what I had done to my knee after a fall. After many x-rays and poking around on my knee, said the arthritis is very bad and need a knee replacement. How painful is it afterward, how long is recovery, and are you glad you did it? Thanking you all in advance for any and all help.
3 knees replaced here (1 hip too). The bad news is the hip was way easier. Painful but they make great drugs for it. They have you up and around the next day, but 10 to 12 weeks is the normal rehabilitation period. A lot depends on how religious you are with the therapy. Yes, they pain is gone but the reality is they aren't the knees I was born with and don't do all the same things (maybe it's because I'm an old fart too). Like Nike says...Just do it.
So, just do it, eh? I will do all that I can to put it off until fall. We have reservations for high country camping to include Colorado. Look forward to getting out of the heat, so a few more cortisone shots may be in my near future. Thanks
I no longer kneel in church in order to avoid knee replacement. I Take Glucosamine which definitely helps.
I think by the doctors analysis, we are past Glucosamine. Says the arthritis is so bad, even the meniscus is gone. But thanks for the information. I will add some to my diet, and possibly save the other knee.
I used to get cortisone injections every 6 months and was looking at a knee replacement. Then I started doing just 2 exercises in this book everyday, 1-2 minutes only. Treat Your Own Knees: Simple Exercises to Build Strength, Flexibility, Responsiveness and Endurance, November 11, 2003 Jim Johnson...on Amazon. I'm a skeptical nurse practitioner and I didn't believed that would work, but now I'm 3 years without an injection. Occasional pain but then I do the exercises and it goes away unless I've really walked to far (I walk a lot). I then lost 25 pounds which helped too. (you might be fine in that area and only need the exercises) The pain was manageable without the weight lost but every 1 pound weight loss unloads 4 pounds of joint stress in people with knee osteoarthritis. It's worth a try before you head to the saw.
BTW, one of my meniscus is gone and the other is torn. And not to discourage anyone if it helps you but glucosamine has not shown to help in studies. My mother swore by it too but it didn't help me at all. http://www.medpagetoday.com/Rheumatology/Arthritis/44710
Taking the weight off would be a great help for my knees as well as the rest of my joints. It has always hurt to walk, so while exercise would be of great benefit to me, I don't do it because of the pain. With the shot, it has eliminated about 95% of the pain and am walking correctly in my shoes for the first time in a realllly long time. How often can one have those cortisone shots? Thanks for information it is really helpful.
I go to the small pool at Sun Dial 3 times a week. 2 excercise classes - Handi-Capable Club - and one time on my own. If I walk a lot on a hard surface, my back & knees hurt. But there is not any pain at all in the pool. Plus it is a nice time to socialize. BTW. Neither my back nor knees hurt and I rarely take any pain meds. And speaking of meds, did you know that people over 60 (Hello Sun City residents) should not take ibruprophen or equivalent? Tylenol or equivilant is o.k. Check out info on internet.
Emily. What shoes do you buy? Next week I am checking out SAS. They have a store in Sun City in the Starbucks shopping center - South West corner of Bell & 99th.
Such great information, thank you all so much. I buy Easy Spirit shoes for walking. They are comfortable and make walking an easier task. SAS has good shoes, but was just there last week, and I found $156 for a pair of sandals a little steep for my budget. We have a pool in the backyard but it is not heated, so will have to wait a few more weeks/months for it to get warm enough to use. Thank you all for the fantastic information and resource information. You are great and marvelous people.
The "exercises" are not typical, barely even called exercise. More of a particular stretch and the other involves balancing on one leg with the other knee bent. There is a third too. For me they take the pain away, not cause it. But it can take a few weeks before you feel relief. Yes, swimming is the best exercise for joints. But these knee exercises/stretches are specialized for the muscles around the knee. 1-2 minutes a day is all you need.
I had three strokes in 2005, right side affected. Balancing period is chore. I can walk into doorways, walls, anything that I lose visual context with. This is why my shoulders are bad, they have been beaten up in door ways. Balance is something that I struggle with every moment of the day. I don't fall flat, I do great things like trip over coffee tables and jack up my knee. I fall upwards when going up stairs, jacking up my knee. And, on occasion, twist the wrong way, and mess up my knee. If I can hold onto a door or something to balance me, (me, balanced hee hee hee) then it would probably be doable.
Most people need to hold on when they start but the goal is not to hold on because the slight side to side movement of the knee while balancing is one of the things that helps the knee improve. Sounds as if that exercise might be too much of a challenge for you then. The other one is lying on the back so you could do it. I forget the third one because I only did two of them.
Emily don't be disappointed because the book is quite small. All you need really is a few of the exercises in it and a bit of understanding if you like that. If you have an e-reader save a buck and buy the e-book, which might be better for some because the type is quite small in the print version.
