Knee replacements

Brentor

Brentor

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My knees have osteoarthritis. I had steroid injections last autumn and will hopefully have some more shortly as the effect has worn off. Walking any distance is difficult and kneeling is a problem. If the injections don’t continue to work the next option is knee replacements, something I would rather avoid.

Anyone with experience of replacements?
 
An ex employee mine had the same knee replacement three times!
I think it all depends upon which manufacturer of joint, and who performs the procedure.

All the best of luck ;)
 
I've had Arthroscopys on both knees to sort them out (One 20 years ago, the other 2 years ago.) Had a steroid jab in the left last year which worked well but started to wear off.
Early this year I saw the surgeon who offered another jab, I said can we leave it 'till I realy need it which he said was a good idea...been ok up 'till now...but only "ok" still a bit creaky!
I'm sure new knees are on the horizon.
When I was hobbeling about on sticks after the arthroscopys I bumped into loads of folks walking quite normally who said they'd had replacements.
 
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My wife had a knee replacement 2 years ago. It worked very well for her. What she did do was follow the advice given and whilst some of the exercises she was asked to do before the operation were quite painful , it did mean she made a quicker recovery. Speaking to a orthopaedic friend, he says that he often finds that when people say they have found no improvement after having a knee replacement operation, it is because they haven't really followed the advice about doing exercises.
 
Yes, our sister in law didn’t carry out the necessary physio and is suffering now.
 
:plusone: for the "do the physio exercises" comments.

Not had a replacement myself but a couple of golf buddies have - the one who did the exercises recovered much faster and better than the one who "did a few".
 
I had a full replacement 7 years ago. My replacement was very painful for many months. I was on opioids for 3 months for the pain. Luckily just as l was getting hooked on them (not a nice experience) the pain subsided to a level that ordinary pain killers managed it. It took 18 months to get over the operation. Looking back I'm glad I had it done as I could barely walk more than a hundred yards. I now have no pain and great movement of the knee.
 
munch said:
My wife had a knee replacement 2 years ago. It worked very well for her. What she did do was follow the advice given and whilst some of the exercises she was asked to do before the operation were quite painful , it did mean she made a quicker recovery. Speaking to a orthopaedic friend, he says that he often finds that when people say they have found no improvement after having a knee replacement operation, it is because they haven't really followed the advice about doing exercises.
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Absolutely right, patient compliance post op is very difficult to monitor and it caused me more problems over the years than the surgery itself.
 
yep have to say i also know a few with knee replacements and the all say get it done don't linger.
but 100% on putting the work in before and after
 
Back years ago you used to get dragged in to the physio multiple times a week, and they cracked the whip if you didn't work hard enough. It was a hassle but I wonder if outcomes were better then. You have to have the right work ethic now and some people just haven't
 
Jannyfox said:
Back years ago you used to get dragged in to the physio multiple times a week, and they cracked the whip if you didn't work hard enough. It was a hassle but I wonder if outcomes were better then. You have to have the right work ethic now and some people just haven't
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I don’t think there are sufficient numbers of physios to do such intensive monitoring these days.
I know of instances where post op patients have followed social media influencers in their recovery instead of professional advice and have not done well.

Sadly these are the times we are living in, I’m glad I’m not clinically involved anymore.
 
footman said:
I don’t think there are sufficient numbers of physios to do such intensive monitoring these days.
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There seem to be insufficient numbers to support any speciality in the NHS at the moment.

I put this down to the Conservative's disastrous "improvements" to the NHS from the early 1980s. As with everything they involved themselves in, they started with a not unreasonable plan to improve the service to patients. However, they then turned their collective deaf ear to the warnings, from those who were doing the work, that the pudding was being overegged.

But hey, it was only the poor who were being disadvantaged - the important people went private anyway, which was all that mattered, :headbang:
 
i had my left knee done in december...it was bloody agony at first,mine was complicated as there was already a 25mm gap in my tibial platau to contend with, normal knee ops take 1.5 hours, i was in 4 and my spinal block was wearing off so i could feel them hammering it in place and putting the clips in..but hey ho no pain no gain, with a bit of perseverence it goes away, the more excersises you can manage the better, mine not bad now still sore after 12 hour days in work and it still swells up a bit if i doo too much, but all in all its better than what it was before in the main
 
I’m going to have to have a partial at some time. One thing that definitely isn’t good is to keep having cortisone injections regularly as they mess up the knee and you definitely can’t have them within six mths of having a replacement op.
I’ve concentrated on building up the muscles around the knee to support it better.
Two guys I volunteer with have had them in last 18 mths. One was fine after three months, one is still having issues 12 mths later.
 
Craig1912 said:
I’m going to have to have a partial at some time. One thing that definitely isn’t good is to keep having cortisone injections regularly as they mess up the knee and you definitely can’t have them within six mths of having a replacement op.
I’ve concentrated on building up the muscles around the knee to support it better.
Two guys I volunteer with have had them in last 18 mths. One was fine after three months, one is still having issues 12 mths later.
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Are finding that the exercises help?
 
I'm 14 weeks post op TKR,I thought being relatively fit and strong pre op would be of benefit but I seriously underestimated how tough recovery would be,I'm getting stronger and my Physio is pleased with my progress but I found the first 6-8 weeks really hard and still trying to improve flexion.
 
Oh,I won't even try to explain how hard a simple thing like coming downstairs normally one foot after the other is after TKR and the joy of getting your first full rotation on exercise bike,simple things but all tough.( In my experience)
 
I had a knee replacement in 2005 and was told it would last about 15years. I have it x-rayed every 10 years and it is still in good condition. The physio and exercises they give you are very demanding but crucial to recovery.
 
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