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I still have total lack of feeling on one side of my knee but it's not due to the nerve block for pain management after surgery. It is not uncommon for the skin at the front of the knee and the outer side of the incision to be numb because a branch of a small nerve is cut during surgery. Sensation usually returns to normal within months.View Thread

I was six weeks post knee replacement when I was told I need MUA. Essentially all the pain and physical therapy wasn't serving any purpose because the adhesions had made it totally impossible to get a greater than 85 degrees of flex. I had wasted six valuable weeks of rehabilitation due to those restricting adhesions.
I'm 3 weeks post MUA and things are better. I can comfortably sit or drive my car and even sleep on my side with no problem now. Right now, I'm still working on going down stairs one at a time.
You're brave to get both done at the same time. I wanted to have both of mine done but my surgeon refuses to to both at the same time and I realized after my surgery why that is. I don't think I could have rehabilitated either knee effectively if both were done together.
Let us know how your recovery is doing. Good luck to you.View Thread

I wasn't too concerned about this problem because on the initial visit of my home care nurse it was one of the questions she asked "are you having any problem with incontinence?". When she asked me that, I realized that it's a very common but temporary inconvenience. It will get better and it happens abruptly, One day you just realize that it's no longer a problem.View Thread

Good luck to you on Friday, you'll do just great!View Thread

Essentially I'm trying to keep exercising on my own until I can make it back to therapy and bending my knee against the arm of my couch as far as I can. I have pain when I walk and I'm still not going down the stairs one-foot, one-step at a time. I had done that accidentally when I had adhesion and felt like my knee exploded, I cried for five minutes from that pain. I'm going to wait to get to that point in physical therapy which by the way costs me $40 co-pay every visit. I go 3 times a week, so it's expensive.
Basically I feel as though I'm a brand new post operative knee and beginning therapy all over again but this time with a much greater degree of flexion. I use heat and I also massage my knee and scar. There are no adhesions under the scar, my therapist told me it's nice and loose beneath it. But there's still swelling present especially after therapy and I ice it up right away. The rest of the time, I use heat. This is such a slow healing process that it becomes depressing. The progress happens in tiny increments that are barely noticeable. I can count the number of times on one hand that I can stand or walk with no pain at all.
This has to get better, or I'll curse the day I decided to do this knee replacement.View Thread


I have been going to physical therapy 2 to 3 times a week, but since the second week post operative, I had felt as though I had a tight band along the side of my knee and beneath it. It felt stiff and even manipulation by my therapist couldn't break through that tightness despite getting it to an 85 degree flexion. I'm a bit concerned that after going through manipulation that it will again be riddled with adhesion despite going to therapy next week every day. Has anyone had this done? After all the pain these past weeks, I'm really not looking forward to any more.View Thread

Just remember something here, and it's probably the most important thing for anyone to remember. Your recovery will feel very slow and you may even begin to feel depressed and defeated...BUT this is normal because recovery happens in such tiny increments that it's hardly noticeable. Then you'll reach a point one day when you say 'oh wow, yes it is better than it was!'. Keep in mind it's a very long process. You'll have redness, swelling and pain to some extent for months. Manage your swelling by elevating it and keep ice packs on it. Manage your pain with Vicodin at first for a few weeks then begin weaning off it. The surgery itself is pretty easy and the nurses will make sure you're medicated for pain. The journey really starts the day of your discharge. Reading this forum and contributing to it also helps. Good luckView Thread


Expect post operative pain.The nurses will be quick to bring you your medication to relieve it. I chose hydrocodone (vicodin) over oxycodone (percocet) because the latter gives me terrible itches.For the first couple of weeks, I had intense pain and swelling.My knee and calf had varying shades of deep purple and red. Ice packs were my companion constantly. I elevated my leg on a pillow to bring the swelling down. Physical therapy came to my house for two weeks, three times a week. I had done some leg exercises prior to surgery so some of the things he had me do were fairly painless, some were not. Extension of my leg was good, but flexion of my knee was so difficult due to the swelling. I have been going to outpatient physical therapy 2 times a week.
Here's some tips about managing pain. In the beginning, take what you need every 4 to 6 hours. Take your pain pill an hour before you have therapy. Make sure to automatically take a stool softener like Senokot every day. If you don't move your bowels for 3 days despite a stool softener, then take a laxative.It's no fun having to sit on a toilet and strain.Speaking of toilet, lowering yourself down on the seat will be especially painful at first so if you have a commode, you can put it over your toilet and use the arms on it to lift or lower yourself.Keep a cold pack on for the heat and swelling and of course elevated.Have your doctor send you home with a prescription for a sleeping pill like temaaepam, enough for at least 2 weeks.
Six weeks later and I still have some swelling and one half of my knee is numb. The nerve was cut and reconnected so it may or may not regenerate and may take up to a year to do that. When I'm watching tv, I use the belt from a bathrobe to put under my foot and help lift my leg up straight for extension or to pull my foot so that my knee flexes.Be prepared for depression, it's something that I wasn't ready for. It's natural to get down on yourself because progress is so slow that you feel you're the exception to the rule of recovery, you aren't. It's a very long and slow process.My last bit of advice is to read about the experiences of others that have been through this surgery, that helped me a lot knowing that I shouldn't expect miracles to happen overnight.View Thread
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