Knee Replacement

Anyone out there have it done? Any advice or “what to expect”? Up and at em’ back to work in an office setting timeline? I’m 39 and get the pleasure of doing this in August.

The one piece of advice I can give you is everyone heals and recovers differently from joint replacements. You might hear one guy say they were back at work in 1 week and then hear about someone else who wasn’t back until 8-10 weeks. Do your physical therapy and don’t skip any exercises and hope for the best. If you are one of the slow healers don’t lose hope or slack off on therapy as that will only set you back further.

I had my left hip replaced about 18 months ago and I’m in my late 40’s. It was from a previous injury that wasn’t diagnosed properly but that’s water under the bridge. I heard everything from we had one guy take no pain medication and was walking up and down the hallway with just a cane the night of the surgery to some people still using a walker after 8-10 weeks. I was lucky and fell in between and was up and going without a cane in about 4 weeks. I was getting a little down after 3 weeks or so thinking is this ever going to get better but it was like a light switch at 4 weeks and I was able to ditch the cane.

Also, listen to your doctors! I could walk without the cane after about 2 weeks but couldn’t walk with a full gait. They didn’t want to ditch the cane until I was able to walk correctly as the healing process is slowed if you are not rebuilding the muscles that need to be and walking with a full gait builds these muscles and limping hurts them.
Good luck and I hope all goes well for you!

Do, I repeat do all of the therapy, the best thing you can do is use it. It will be painful, knees are one of the worst as far as pain but it is manageable. You are fortunate that you are young and will heal faster, but I hate to give you a downside, you may need to get it done again in the future.

Yup, do your therapy. I’d find a Physical Therapist that specializes in replacement recovery (knees & hips) – check out private PT clinics as an option. MN insurance/laws let you pick your own PT provider.

As stated above, everyone is different and there is a lot of work required to align your body. Your knee hurts so your hip compensates for the knee. Your hip hurts so your back compensates for your hip…….
Need to retrain your body to regain natural position and your natural “gait”.

Had both of my knees done at the same time….worked out fine.

Best of luck.

Pete