My Total Knee Replacement Surgery is a Success

My third bit of advice regarding total knee replacement surgery:  it's important that you prepare physically for your knee surgery.  While I'm not in any way a svelte, hard body, I did start working out about a year before my knee surgery in anticipation of the operation.  I signed up for TRX Camps for Baby Boomers at Willis Knighton, North, coupled with a pool class with low impact exercises done in a heated pool at LSU Health Sciences Center.  I exercised religiously to tighten my core and strengthen my upper and lower body. 

To learn more about TRX, click here

Pete Holman, a physical therapist and certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) at TRX says, "Whatever your fitness goals, this [TRX] workout system can accommodate anyone from senior citizens with injuries to Olympic-level athletes."  I believe I'm proof of the former.

Conditioning made a HUGE difference, but it’s also the reason I cried during my initial physical therapy home health appointment.  I had a drill sergeant PT and he wanted me to engage my quads to straighten my knee.  I thought I was doing it, but he kept saying, “Tighten those muscles, you aren’t doing anything.”  I knew I had built up my quads, and I couldn’t understand why I was unable to do well on the exercise.  Tears of pain and frustration ran down my face as Ricky and the PT watched me.  I later figured out that the spinal block that they used to deaden my knee didn’t wear off completely, for me, until almost 12 days after surgery.  I knew something was amiss but it took returning to normal for me to realize what was wrong with my body in the beginning. 

There is pain with this surgery, but drugs and ice packs help.  I approached my therapy like I did my workouts.  I wore my exercise clothing, prepared a large cup of ice water, and worked and sweated every day doing the exercises whether the PT came or not.  My husband says I’m a compliant patient.  One afternoon I was sobbing as I tried to straighten and bend my knee but I didn’t give up.  My drill sergeant PT, a perfectionist, was rarely satisfied with my progress but when he was absent and another PT came, he told me my first guy was being too hard on me.  PT#2 said I was doing really well and ready for out-patient therapy.  (Actually I liked Drill Sergeant PT and credit him with much of my progress.)  Currently, I’ve had two weeks of out-patient therapy and resumed my pool exercise class.  Next week, eight weeks after my surgery, I’ll have my final PT sessions. 

Now everything becomes therapy, says my TRX instructor who has also had a knee joint replacement.  (Unfortunately, it's too early to return to TRX, my favorite exercise program.)  Trips to the grocery store, going up and down the stairs to my bedroom (I no longer stay in the middle of the living room), getting up from a chair—or, as one of my physical therapists told me, “If it’s physical, it’s therapy.”   

My 8" scar!

I continue on the road to regaining full strength and mobility in my right knee.  Unfortunately, as soon as I make enough progress, I’ll have to get a new left knee joint.  However, if this right knee experience is any indication of what I might expect, I may do it as a Christmas present to myself.