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

My wife and I have a lady friend that is 74 had total knee replacements both sides about 1 1/2 years ago approx 6 months apart. She is back to her normal life including riding her horses.

One thing that might play into this for someone else as it did for me is something no doctor will warn you about. I only learned about it after it happened to me.

It was the day after surgery, and I was the hero, the guy that was, "Hey, look at me, I'm walking around just fine". What nobody told me is that the pain from the surgery would be delayed a day or two due to the surgery meds and nerve blockers, or whatever they use.

We had company stop by to check on us and I was eager to catch up with my wife who had gone out the door 30 seconds ahead of me to meet them outside.

When I slipped into my shoes I opened the door and turned to exit, but my foot stayed planted while my entire torso turned right to exit. My foot simply didn't do what my brain told it to when it said, "lift and turn". So my foot stayed, my body turned, and everything between the two went pop pop bang pop! I felt it, and knew I'd damaged something, and feared it'd damaged the new knee.

The pain was something else and three days later I was in the emergency room. Xrays on foot and knee. A few days after that, I was in my surgeons office talking to an associate, but got no remedy or diagnosis. I did manage to get a few opioids to help with sleep since I was now a week or so along and crashing from lack of sleep. With the "national opioid crisis" don't count on much assistance from a doctor for pain in 2023.

I watched youtube videos on opioid addiction to understand it, and prevent it. That honestly was a bit of an eye opener. Might be a good idea for someone considering surgery to do that.

Anyway, all that to say, protect your leg immediately after surgery. Everyone will be pushing you to use it, be aware of what exactly might damage it and don't blindly follow orders. Use your head and think for yourself to a degree as well.

If I had it to do again, and I do with the other side, I'll want to know

1) what is the window of time I have to regain my full range of motion before it's too late due to scar tissue or whatnot?

2) Where should I be in my recovery at any given point? I realize everyone is different but in my case I have nerve damage beyond the norm and it went pretty much undiagnosed, and untreated so sleep loss became devastating before I got help.

3) What is most likely to cause me trouble and how frequently does it happen?

4) What do you, my surgeon see most often that people do wrong. This question is two-fold. First, just how it sounds. Second, if your surgeon doesn't say, "Not doing your physical therapy", and is one of those that doesn't think physical therapy matters, find another surgeon.


As a side note, my surgery check in time was 8:30 am and my surgeon had done three total knees already. I was #4 at about 9:45 am. 6 scheduled that day.

This may be too late to help, but when I am on pain meds I take the psyllium fiber in all my foods. I will mix it with some gatorade or whatever too. Cheaper than the store bought supplement. Helps me immensely!

I searched for: What percentage of patients have problems after out of the hospital for a year or more with total knee replacement.

Knee pain years after knee replacement can be caused by a number of different things. The most common cause is wear and tear on the new joint, which can lead to pain, stiffness, and swelling. Other causes include infection, loosening of the implant, and damage to the surrounding tissue. In some cases, knee pain years after knee replacement can be caused by a combination of these factors.

Many patients who had knee replacement surgery still suffer from chronic pain six months after the procedure. The percentage of patients who had chronic knee pain following surgery was studied in a recent study. There were reports of pain ranging from 3 out of 10 to 5 out of 10 in the average pain rating (according to the 0-10 pain scale). Non-surgical Regenexx solutions are available in 78 clinics across the country. A study of nearly 2,000 French patients who had knee replacement surgery found that they were no more likely to require rehabilitation than those who had not had surgery. Almost half of patients (57%) started taking new pain relievers (such as Tylenol and Motrin) within a year of surgery. It has been discovered that knee arthritis does not always cause pain.

For at least 40% of patients, their pain persists one year after total knee replacement surgery.

Platelet rich plasma
Stem cell injections
Ultrasound guided injections
Joint lubricants

Some options that a Duke University trained non surgical orthopedic trained physician is offering.

I will avoid surgery until I am out of options. I am going to contact the non surgical Dr as soon as I get a few more things off of my list.

Same with back surgery. Times are changing from the days of needing multiple back surgeries because the one before made the area weaker.

No wonder there are so many grumpy old bastards here on the 'Fire.

Lol.

Some have nerve blocks, some don't. A nerve block takes up to 36 hours to wear off completely. My wife had one and while it did a great job, they wouldn't let her leave the hospital until it was completely worn off. That took 2 nights. The ones who are out the door same day don't have it. They will be in more pain, though, so it's whether you want to live with it. My wife's a pain weenie.
Before it's completely worn off, you're in danger of falling as you don't have complete feeling in your leg. It won't do what you need it to do. They weren't about to let her leave without complete control over her leg.

Any more info on stem cell injections and how well they work?

my wife had both knees total replacement same day 3 hrs. after those 2 knees were completely replaced my wife a Norwegian / German was up walking on them with a walker .my wife is dam stubborn and 1st week she thru the ice machines littery in the garbage and started walking normal,has had no knee pain anymore ,stands up straight better now and can walk excellent but she still is dam stubborn .

Had a partial done Jan. 3rd this year and pain was not an issue. Did the exercises, took the meds on schedule and at six week follow up doctor said looks great, see you in a year while PT said range of motion hood and let pain be my guide. WAY TOO GENERAL OF RELEASE DIRECTIONS!

I promptly went back to work in the shop carried bags of feed and salt and the result was I hurt the bone prosthetic interface and set myself way back. Pain great enough I stopped moving and scar tissue hardened up and I lost much if my range of motion. Back to PT next week to see if he can working loose or if I have to go back in and go under so the surgeon can do a manipulation while I’m under to break it loose. Ironically I don’t think we will have to do that because my foot got hung up last week and I did a self administered manipulation and broke it all loose when I fell🤣. It didn’t feel good at the time but literally with 5 minutes if felt great and I could walk normal again !

Not something I would suggest trying at home but this fool got lucky!

Hahaha, Robb , you sound just like me, to much to do and to stubborn to be careful. I had to get feeders full of corn in hill country, just had knee scoped, carried two bags of corn on shoulders, got to top of ladder, ladder shifted in hog hole lost balance , and fell on good leg and ripped other knee out in fall, Hard Headed !

Man, if you in that much pain I would go see another doctor. My wife was 53 when she had her knee replacement.

If you have a bad knee, most likely you're favoring the good one all the time. That puts extra stress on it and it will wear out faster. My brother had to have his good knee replaced before the bad one because when it went, it went fast.

Agree, his doctor is an idiot and bound by his oath to relieve suffering.

lolol. I thought I was bad trying to post from my phone.

Speaking from experience here. Get a second opinion.

I live with one of them..Kraut and Swede. Stubborn is bred in to them.

I am bone-on-bone in one knee (tore my ACL in 1976; no repair done). My primary care doc used to play hockey and told me to wrap a band (such as those made by Mueller) around my leg just below the knee cap. It has worked for me; haven't had to get a shot for about 4 years or so and have been pain free unless I overbend the leg. Might be worth a try for you and others in the same boat.

It sounds like your doc would rather get paid by Medicare instead of by you or your current insurer.