Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Opinions on Total Knee Replacement

My right knee has been bone on bone for 20 years. I was having a lot of pain and was planning on surgery this year. On a "how can I spend 30 bucks whim", I bought a too good to be true product I saw advertised on TV to fix stuff like I had, Instaflex, and after taking about 8-12 pills the pain was gone. Your supposed to take one or two (maybe 3) a day, but I didn't and have taken maybe another 4 or 6 in the last 7-8 months just when the pain comes back. A capsule or two nails it for a couple months. I like it.

TKA - "Total Knee Arthroplasty". There's also a "partial" arthroplasty.

You'll be able to get around after a month, although you might still be using a cane.

To echo what some others have posted... get it done, you won't regret it. I can't say I would recommend having both done at the same time, though. I had my left done first, then the right done a year and a half later. Prior to the first surgery I walked with 2 canes for a while, it was so bad. Now I walk anywhere I want, backpack, hunt, wade streams and fish, you name it. Just don't wuss out on the rehab. No pain, no gain.

Best money I ever spent, other than the penis reduction surgery.

OK Thanks. I've tried every over the counter thing, and a couple of those TV offer things to no avail. I've been taking two Aleve every morning for 4 years now and that does help.

Doc, my first two surgeries, one on each knee, was back in the late '80's, and I did them both at the same time. It turned out to not be such a great idea for me, as I could not rehab properly I was so unstable for so long. I didn't have a "good" leg to favor so as to properly rehab the other one. That was right after I was done playing pro ball as a catcher.....that's what started all this stuff.

Yeah, I was on Aleve too, but it caused liver enzymes to rise after a while. IIRC, I was walking without a cane in 4 weeks after each surgery.

I had to get that procedure done twice!

First one didn't take...

my fil had both knees replaced at the same time. soon he was up, walking and talking. he was up in his 70's.

based upon a sample of one (or two?), evidence suggests that it tends to work.

LMAO..........mine's only 2"............from the ground.

Go get them done, but before you do, go to the Physical therapist and find out what goals they have for you post op, then start the stretching exercises before the operation get the proper movement before the knife.

You better get your knees done......and soon.

My dad had both replaced and it was a disaster....

His quality of life will never be the same.

You bastid........

Sorry to hear that GregW. What happened if you don't mind?

I had my bad knee replaced in July of 2013 at age 70. I hunted elk in Colorado that October and deer here in New Mexico in November, the first time in a long time that I was able to go up and down the mountains without pain. The surgeon that did mine employs minimally invasive computer-assisted surgery and I would suggest that you check into it.

There is a lot of pain for the first couple of weeks and my doctor urged me to use the pain meds and stay ahead of the pain so that I could do the simple rehab exercises that he recommended. I was walking a mile each day and driving three weeks after the surgery. A friend who had her surgery on the same day by the same surgeon did not follow his instructions. She took a lot longer and endured a lot more pain before she was able to get back to normal activities.

I recommended my doctor to an older friend here in the valley (age 77) and he had both of his knees done, although not at the same time. I loaned him my stationary bike but he didn't like to use it and it took him a few weeks longer with each knee to get back to getting around good. I had recalled the advice from my wife's friend Jim Reynolds, who did have both knees done at the same time. He said, "If you have 'em both done at the same time, you'd better have someone around who is willing to wipe your ass for you!"

That's remarkable, mudhen. There's no way in hell I would have been able to hunt three months after my surgery. I was still on a cane after two.

Yeah, I was thinking about Olin when reading this.

Greg's right. His dad ain't good.

What I"m reading here, that each body can be different, but also a HUGE thing, and you know this, pick your doctor very carefully. GEt a LOT Of references and TALK to them.

Would be the only way I"d go and if it took a year to come to a comfortable decision and I had to fly somewhere further away ... I would...

And repeat, follow therapy to a T, do what they say, and more if allowed, but if not, then don't....

My mom had both of hers replaced at the same time. IIRC, it took about 3 mths of therapy, but she went back to work as a nurse and worked several more years. She told me, if she had known it would stop the pain and she could walk/work again, she would have had it done years earlier.

I have to agree on the "pick your doctor wisely" deal. There are a lot of orthopedic surgeons out there, and some ain't very good. The guy who did both my knees was the only doc in the city I'd let touch me, based on my experience treating post-op patients in the ED and based on recommendations of the OR nurses. OR nurses can give you a lot of good info, but don't just take ONE nurse's opinion. Nurses can get wet panties for a jerk and tell you that he's God's Gift, when he ain't. Just sayin'.