I am 23 days post op. complete knee replacement and I take Percocet every 4 hrs I am never painfree. Normal?

Question

I am a 59 year old male and I have always been active, I find this whole "recovery thing" boring and depressing, I am going to my first outpatient therapy visit today.

Answer 1

I am answering as a physical therapist.

Firstly, the advice you received regarding doing as little for your knee given by the person with the meniscal repair is wrong. A knee replacment is very different from a meniscal repair and not doing anything after a replacement will lead to loss of range of motion, further pain, swelling, deconditioning and muscle atrophy.

You will not be painfree 3+ weeks after this major orthopedic surgery. You can expect pain as you become more and more active and your body adjusts. I am assuming that you are walking around ( with a cane? crutches? nothing?) and able to care for yourself. If your pain is preventing you from walking, tolerating exercise, caring for yourself , participating in therapy and/or is accompanied by redness, swelling, calf tenderness, any drainage from the incision (which should be healed), fever......please contact your Orthopedic surgeon ASAP.

I am glad you are seeing an OP PT, they will be a great resource for you. Tell them you are bored and depressed, 2 emotional states that are very common. They will give you activities, exercise etc.

In general, it is not until about the 3rd to 4th month that you start to feel like this was all really worth it. I have suggested to patients that they keep a journal that marks milestones so that when they get frustrated and think " Heck, I am no better" they can go back and look back remember when it was hard to get out of bed, or climb stairs.

Please feel free to email me should you want to ask questions; I would be glad to help if you think I may be of some use.

Answer 2

I know how you feel. I had meniscus repair on my knee last January. I didn't do any therapy. I just listened to my doctor, and took it slow. He told me not to do anything with my leg for the first 2 weeks, so I did nothing for my leg during those 2 weeks, but did continue to work my upper body. Then he said I could use the bike machine, so I did. Then after about another 2 weeks it said it was ok to life weights for that leg, but to do it really light, and slowly build up. Which I did. I was back to normal after about 4 months total. I'm 39 and a MMA fighter, and have no problems with my knee at all. Now I do have a friend who has had a total knee replacement around the sametime of my meniscus repair. He was back to normal after about 8 months. The important thing I found is to do as much as you can do without working that knee. Nothing is stopping you from going to the gym and working those upper body muscles.

Answer 3

Hi! You shouldn't be having that much pain but then everybody is different..........my Dad had both his knees replaced and he didn't take many pain pills, he's against that so he just did his physical therapy and he is fine now. I just had minor surgery to repair meniscus tear and torn ligaments which are two different things..............and i didn't have to have any PT but i am on Lortab which is vicodin bc i have to have a total hip replacement. That is why i had to have the knee surgery so that i can do rehab after the hip surgery????????????? anyway, good luck......you should be doing PT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 4

Get used to it. My sister was an exotic dancer all her life, she's had both knees replaced and both shoulders, she also has 27 Llamas she raises and 17 Arabian horses. That's her therapy. If you mentioned pain pills to her she'd kick you off her place. she's also an Vegetarian. By the way, I used to break horses, I've had eight spinal fusions and both hands have had ten inch plates put in them along with one shoulder. We don't talk about pain in my family, we live it, and take it.

Answer 5

yes I would have thought it would be less painfull by now!

my unlce had to have his done twice!!! he had pain after his too!!