1’m 10 days after my knee replacement Op. I’ve got the bend to over 100 degrees but when I try to increase the bend the knee keeps swelling up and stopping me bending any further. Should I stop trying to bend it further until the swelling goes down?.
This is a good question Roger. Great job in getting over 100 degrees quickly. Since it is still very soon after the surgery, the increase in swelling is expected at this point. Some people have it more than others. I will not recommend to stop bending your knee. You don't want to take the chance that it stiffens up on you (and it happens very fast at this stage). I recommend 2 things: 1. if you are bending your knee with a lot of force, do it more gentle but then make it up by doing it more often. Less force and have less swelling and the increase in frequency will enable you to still gain more range. 2. Use ice (or even anti-inflammatory meds if needed) to control the swelling. Try them and let me know how it goes. Hope these help.
Good question @AMCD18. I have not encountered a precaution for bending stated as %. I usually see in terms of degrees. If it is %, the way that I can think of without using a goniometer is to look at your bending in front of a mirror or ask someone to look at how much you are bending your knee and estimate it to be half of how far your other knee can go. I hope you find this helpful.🙏
Hello. This is one of the best videos that I viewed so far. I'm 9 weeks post op and my range of motion fluctuates between 95 and 105. Also, I'm having trouble lifting my leg to climb steps going up. What can I do increase my range of motion.
Thank you @crystalcoburn3122! To increase your bending, here are some things that have worked for my patients. 1. do the stretch as often as you can like 100x a day (figure of speech). 2. use heat on your quads and stretch it as well (your quads can be limiting your knee flexion). 3. mobilize your scar (stiff scars can prevent your knee from bending. As for the climbing steps, strengthen your leg more and that will help. I have videos for those. I also have a video for climbing steps after knee replacement. You can check that out as well to learn the proper mechanics. Hope these help!🙏
Hello doctor i had my ACL and miniscus repair surgery,my 3 weeks have completed doctor told me to bend knee till 90°but i am harldy able to do it till 30° please help me how to achieve my Target.. thank you
I'm sorry to hear that @ritikabhattacharya6623. 30 degrees at 3 weeks post op is not a lot. I suggest doing the exercises I showed in the video as often as your can. I use the metaphor 100x a day to communicate how much you need to do the exercises. With ACL surgery there is a precaution when doing the heel slide with the strap. Make sure you are using your other leg to bring the surgery leg into extension. At your stage, you are not allowed active extension in the last 30 deg. I hope this helps.🙏
Hello! Thanks so much for this great video. My mom just had a knee replacement surgery 5 weeks ago and is really struggling and starting to get frustrated at only being able to bend 75 degrees with effort. We just started these exercises today, however it is very painful for her. Do you have any recommendations?
Hey Lennie. Sorry to hear that your Mom is going through this. I can relate to your situation as my Mom had knee replacement 3 yrs ago. At 5 weeks post-op, 75 degrees is not a good range. I think you know that already. It can be painful to stretch because of the stiffness of the knee. Couple of suggestions for her will be 1. if she has a hard time tolerating the stretch because of the pain, stretch with less intensity but make up for it with more reps. I tell my patients who are in her situation to stretch 100x a day. 2. I don't like pushing drugs but if she really cannot take the pain, taking pain medications can help. Try #1 first and see how it goes. Hope it helps her as it does with my other patients. Would love to know how it goes.
I'm sorry to hear this Anthony. My biggest suggestion is to keep doing the stretch many times a day. I tell my patients to do it 100x a day. And try to stretch as hard as you can each time. Hope this helps. Wish you the best.
You're welcome @isabelmontes9948. I understand what you are going through. Hang in there. It will get better as you put in the work. I wish you the best.🙏
I'm sorry to hear this @henriettayeboah9749. I have seen this in the clinic. My recommendation to my patients in this situation is to stretch as often as they can- like 100x a day (metaphorically speaking). And do it as hard as you can. Hope this helps.🙏
I had a knee replacement in October October 4th and I'm still having problems bending my knee I have been trying my best to try and go a little bit harder but it hurts what else can I do
I'm sorry to hear this Katrina. I see this even in the clinic. My advise is to stretch as much as you can as often as you can. I tell my patients to stretch 100x a day. Just keep doing it. Persistence is key. Hope this helps.
Sorry to hear this Shannon. I have seen patients in your situation. I recommend doing the stretch as often as you can. I tell people 100x a day to get my point across. You want to make up in number what you are not able to do tolerate in pain. Milder stretch but done more frequently and holding longer periods of time can help. And as much as I don't like taking meds, in some cases, it may be needed. You are still in the early phase of recovery. You can still do this! Hope this helps. I will be holding a knee replacement challenge soon. You can follow one of our social media accounts to keep informed.
I had total knee replacement 31 days ago. I have a 95 degree bend but struggling to get any further. There is still a lot of swelling in the knee. Do I keep pushing against the swelling, or allow the swelling to go and then start again?
Great question Darren. I'm sorry to hear that you are experiencing this. I do not recommend stopping and waiting for the swelling to go down. Swelling can take a long time to go down. What I would suggest is keeping up with your icing, don't overdo the walking or standing, and do frequent stretches so that you don't have to push too hard each time but still have a good chance to increase your range of motion. Hope this helps. I would like to invite you to join our private facebook group where you can learn a lot more on knee replacements. We will also be having a knee replacement challenge in 2 weeks where I can address more questions. The info will be in the group. Link is in the description.
Thanks Doc for this helpful and inspiring video exercise for the TKR patients ❤
You're welcome @jocelyncantorna3393! Happy to help.🙏
1’m 10 days after my knee replacement Op. I’ve got the bend to over 100 degrees but when I try to increase the bend the knee keeps swelling up and stopping me bending any further. Should I stop trying to bend it further until the swelling goes down?.
This is a good question Roger. Great job in getting over 100 degrees quickly. Since it is still very soon after the surgery, the increase in swelling is expected at this point. Some people have it more than others. I will not recommend to stop bending your knee. You don't want to take the chance that it stiffens up on you (and it happens very fast at this stage). I recommend 2 things: 1. if you are bending your knee with a lot of force, do it more gentle but then make it up by doing it more often. Less force and have less swelling and the increase in frequency will enable you to still gain more range. 2. Use ice (or even anti-inflammatory meds if needed) to control the swelling. Try them and let me know how it goes. Hope these help.
Keep going!
if the surgeon has advised only 50% bend, how do I know what that looks like? Thank you..
Good question @AMCD18. I have not encountered a precaution for bending stated as %. I usually see in terms of degrees. If it is %, the way that I can think of without using a goniometer is to look at your bending in front of a mirror or ask someone to look at how much you are bending your knee and estimate it to be half of how far your other knee can go. I hope you find this helpful.🙏
@@restorepluspt Thank you. maybe it is degrees and not %. I will ask my son.
Hello. This is one of the best videos that I viewed so far. I'm 9 weeks post op and my range of motion fluctuates between 95 and 105. Also, I'm having trouble lifting my leg to climb steps going up. What can I do increase my range of motion.
Thank you @crystalcoburn3122! To increase your bending, here are some things that have worked for my patients. 1. do the stretch as often as you can like 100x a day (figure of speech). 2. use heat on your quads and stretch it as well (your quads can be limiting your knee flexion). 3. mobilize your scar (stiff scars can prevent your knee from bending. As for the climbing steps, strengthen your leg more and that will help. I have videos for those. I also have a video for climbing steps after knee replacement. You can check that out as well to learn the proper mechanics. Hope these help!🙏
Hello doctor i had my ACL and miniscus repair surgery,my 3 weeks have completed doctor told me to bend knee till 90°but i am harldy able to do it till 30° please help me how to achieve my Target.. thank you
I'm sorry to hear that @ritikabhattacharya6623. 30 degrees at 3 weeks post op is not a lot. I suggest doing the exercises I showed in the video as often as your can. I use the metaphor 100x a day to communicate how much you need to do the exercises. With ACL surgery there is a precaution when doing the heel slide with the strap. Make sure you are using your other leg to bring the surgery leg into extension. At your stage, you are not allowed active extension in the last 30 deg. I hope this helps.🙏
Hello! Thanks so much for this great video. My mom just had a knee replacement surgery 5 weeks ago and is really struggling and starting to get frustrated at only being able to bend 75 degrees with effort. We just started these exercises today, however it is very painful for her. Do you have any recommendations?
Hey Lennie. Sorry to hear that your Mom is going through this. I can relate to your situation as my Mom had knee replacement 3 yrs ago. At 5 weeks post-op, 75 degrees is not a good range. I think you know that already. It can be painful to stretch because of the stiffness of the knee. Couple of suggestions for her will be 1. if she has a hard time tolerating the stretch because of the pain, stretch with less intensity but make up for it with more reps. I tell my patients who are in her situation to stretch 100x a day. 2. I don't like pushing drugs but if she really cannot take the pain, taking pain medications can help. Try #1 first and see how it goes. Hope it helps her as it does with my other patients. Would love to know how it goes.
Hi
It’s bit helpful.I did my replacement 43days ago but still bit hard to bend more than 90 degrees
I'm sorry to hear this Anthony. My biggest suggestion is to keep doing the stretch many times a day. I tell my patients to do it 100x a day. And try to stretch as hard as you can each time. Hope this helps. Wish you the best.
thank you for reminding me of what i need to do… yes very painful but in the end hope i can walk normally
You're welcome @isabelmontes9948. I understand what you are going through. Hang in there. It will get better as you put in the work. I wish you the best.🙏
Additionally, please cover how to bend the knee backwards to gently straighten the knee, as to not walk with a bent knee. Thank you.
Good suggestion @memett4106. I created a video on how to improve knee extension. You can check that out in my channel. I hope it helps.
Thank U
You're welcome @aratimuzumdartelang527!♥
I had my TKR surgery 6 weeks ago and I only have about 92 bend degrees
I'm sorry to hear this @henriettayeboah9749. I have seen this in the clinic. My recommendation to my patients in this situation is to stretch as often as they can- like 100x a day (metaphorically speaking). And do it as hard as you can. Hope this helps.🙏
I had a knee replacement in October October 4th and I'm still having problems bending my knee I have been trying my best to try and go a little bit harder but it hurts what else can I do
I'm sorry to hear this Katrina. I see this even in the clinic. My advise is to stretch as much as you can as often as you can. I tell my patients to stretch 100x a day. Just keep doing it. Persistence is key. Hope this helps.
I am 3wks out and I'm only getting 92 degree. Low tolerance to pain. Need help
Sorry to hear this Shannon. I have seen patients in your situation. I recommend doing the stretch as often as you can. I tell people 100x a day to get my point across. You want to make up in number what you are not able to do tolerate in pain. Milder stretch but done more frequently and holding longer periods of time can help. And as much as I don't like taking meds, in some cases, it may be needed. You are still in the early phase of recovery. You can still do this! Hope this helps. I will be holding a knee replacement challenge soon. You can follow one of our social media accounts to keep informed.
I had total knee replacement 31 days ago. I have a 95 degree bend but struggling to get any further. There is still a lot of swelling in the knee. Do I keep pushing against the swelling, or allow the swelling to go and then start again?
Great question Darren. I'm sorry to hear that you are experiencing this. I do not recommend stopping and waiting for the swelling to go down. Swelling can take a long time to go down. What I would suggest is keeping up with your icing, don't overdo the walking or standing, and do frequent stretches so that you don't have to push too hard each time but still have a good chance to increase your range of motion. Hope this helps. I would like to invite you to join our private facebook group where you can learn a lot more on knee replacements. We will also be having a knee replacement challenge in 2 weeks where I can address more questions. The info will be in the group. Link is in the description.
@Restore Plus Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Great..following the advice and managed to hit 105 degree bend this week!