Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire for those considering knee replacement...

I’m hoping mine take me out

A few years back, a young guy in our church, in his 40's, had a hip replacement. He was grossly overweight which had to have been a problem. It never healed. Eventually, they found a pocket of infection in the new joint and had to remove it until they could get it healed. He was in a wheelchair for weeks with that, then before they could put in the new joint, he got a blood clot and died.

Has anyone had any experience with the new artificial miniscus replacement versus an entire knee job? I’m told the procedure was ok’d and they are doing them in Salt Lake City?

Osky

Full knee replacement in fairly easy now. Do lots of exercises for a few weeks before surgery to strengthen knee and do PT after for a few weeks. My first knee was fairly easy but On my second replacement went home same day and only used a walker that day. Driving in a week. The way they do it just gets better every year.

I'm at week 5 1/2 from a total knee on the left. I have been in a lot of pain that no one seemed to want to diagnose and it was very frustrating. Once the swelling went down and you could kind of see what was going on I went to a podiatrist and he diagnosed it as nerve damage from the surgery. Some is normal around the incision, but this goes from my groin to my foot. It's intense enough to cause me a lot of trouble sleeping mostly, and exercising fully. Been going to physical therapy as prescribed but early on missed a couple due to those nerves really being angry and a lack of sleep.

Everything is healing great, but I don't know what to expect with the nerve damage. Podiatrist said it could take years or might never heal.

A little humor: Have a distant friend that had both knees done during the same session. He'd racked things up badly as a logger, and was equipped with all kinds of pig parts, hose clamps, braces, and crutuches. Post about 2 weeks, and he joined us at a local campground where he was strolling around in the dark and had an encounter with his trailer hitch. I thought I was well versed in the French language, but he came up with words that were beyond recognition. For a final wrap up, he picked up a chunk of firewood and literally wore it out on his trailer hitch.

He did develop an acute fondness for bacon though.

Had double TKR's 5 years ago. Wish I'd done it sooner.

These kind of things happen quite often

I'm hoping to get my left knee replaced 6-1-23.I've been dealing with a lot of pain and inflammation for over a year now.Arthritis set in and bone on bone all the way across the joint now.About 9mo ago the right one started giving me issues too.Finally got the doctor to send me for an MRI on that knee and have a long tear in the meniscus,the tissue on my femur is worn in the joint,Baker's cyst in the back of the knee and arthritis developing in that knee too.Doctor told me as much as he would have to do to try to repair and as invasive the operation would be,he said I'd be better off replacing the knee than trying to repair it and it would last me for life.So now both of them will need it. I knew something bad was going on in there because some days it was worse than the left one was.I was getting to the point both knees were hurting so bad,I was having a hard time just going to the store for groceries.My range of motion was getting very limited.I could only bend my left knee about 50% and my right about 75%.It was getting to the point that it really sucked.Doctor wasn't much help,he gave me some Tramadol for pain but it really didn't help the swelling or inflammation I was wanting to get relief from.I took a few and quit taking it,just wasn't doing anything for the main problem.I happened to have two 600mg Ibuprofen,take one every 12hrs,from a prescription my dentist gave me.I decided what the heck,nothing else I've taken has seemed to really help much.The first one I took seemed to help,so 12hrs later I took the second one and slept good that night,not waking up from knee pain during the night.The next day I went to the store and bought some.It's all 200mg over the counter.I tried 200mg and it didn't help.So I tried 400mg and it started helping a little.Then I went up to 600mg and it helped a lot.It just so happened I had an appointment with my Orthopedic doctor two days after I started taking the Ibuprofen.I told him this has been the best days I've had with my knees in months.He said he would write me a prescription for it and would give me 800mg if I wanted.I said no,the 600mg is working great so just give me the 600mg.It's been a little over two months now and though I still have issues in both knees,I haven't had one bad knee day,I'm nearly pain free and getting around much better.I can now bend my left knee that was 50%,about 95% now.My right was at 75%,is now about 99%.Now I'm ready to have my left knee replaced and feel I'll be able to respond to therapy much better than I would have just two months ago.

Taking Ibuprofen every six hours and the same amount of Tylenol staggered three h0urs between each is darn good pain killer. Better than Ibuprofen alone.

If you're bone on bone, none of those meds will help for very long.

exactly and you will go from being able to get around to not being able to walk without extreme pain.Been there shots,pills they only delay the replacement.

I had full replacements on both knees when I was 48 years old. For the most part it's been pretty decent. They don't have quite the range of motion that OEM knees have. Close, but not the same ! Quality of life is much better now. They do have a tendency to be achy when the soles of my boots start wearing down or when the insoles start breaking down in my boots. That's an easy fix though.

Now there are several options to delay or sometimes totally skip going the replacement route. Always worth checking those options out.
But if you end up getting replacements, make damn sure that you go to an orthopedic surgeon that ONLY DOES KNEES. Not the guy at the county hospital that does Bob's rotator in the morning and Bill's knee in the afternoon. And go overboard on physical therapy.

This is funny. They'll tell you in advance that pain meds tend to give people constipation, some worse than others, some to the extreme and my wife is one of those. She's having a real problem that meds won't fix so she sent me to town for an enema bag. Not a single store in town had one so I ordered one from Amazon that came today. Everything that Amazon ships is packaged securely in brown or gray wrappers...until the enema bag. It came in a clear plastic bag so everyone associated with Amazon and the USPS now know who needs an enema. Luckily my wife has a sense of humor.

I had total knee replacement surgery on both my knees in 2017. Right knee January 3rd, and left knee March 14th. It took a lot of work at rehab and in the gym, but my knees are great. The only thing I can’t do is run or kneel without knee pads. I can walk all day with no issues. I still do 30 minutes 3 times a week on the elliptical machine for strength and range of motion. Most of the people I know who have had problems (my sister in law and a pards wife) sat on their azz and didn’t put in the work rehabbing. Best medical decision I ever made!

Ron

June 5 for my TKR, been in a brace for the past two years, (arthritis, bone on bone) Doc, said it should have been done two years ago. I'll let you let you know. Thanks for all the good tips along with the horror stories. :>)

JGRaider: Your comment brought to mind my initial injuries to my left knee (1998). I sought out the BEST knee Doctor in the west and some of his quotes to me were "NOTHING in your knee that becomes damaged can repair itself"! "Human knees are a weakness to modern man". "Take care of your knees at all costs". "Pain is NOT a virtue - why did you wait so long to seek medical care"!
His repairs to my injured knee lasted right at 20 years - then once the arthritis and pains in that injured knee became constant I had it completely replaced.
That "replacement" was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am so glad I had that done.
I know at least 15 of my former workmates and a couple of relatives who have had one or more of their knees replaced and each and every one of them has been happy with the results.
Bottom line - avoid wrestling with urban youth and common welfare spawn/criminals on cement!
Your knees WILL be injured.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I'm bone on bone in both knees and in considerable pain all the time but my orthopedic surgeon doesn't want to put the fake ones in until I'm 65 which is 3 years away. In the meantime he says we'll manage the pain with shots and pain meds. Yeah right.

Get another Dr.

Shots and meds just delay everything.I did the steroid shot and it worked great.Three months later,got another and things went to hell after that.I think it caused the arthritis to get worse.Tried the gel injection and it helped a little.Got a second one 7mo. later and it got worse.If I would have replaced it,I would have been better off and fully recovered by now.The Ibuprofen has helped me more than the shots did and it buying me time and relief until I get my replacement.