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Man, this slight catch in my knee stopped me from doing my biking today... just started to get to painful. I wonder what it could be, and if it's gonna go away...
Man, this slight catch in my knee stopped me from doing my biking today... just started to get to painful. I wonder what it could be, and if it's gonna go away...
It's okay to call your surgeon and tell him about that catch and the pain with it. It's not necessary to wait on something that is painful and not normal feeling. Call your surgeon and tell him about that ASAP.
Well my post-op is on Tuesday... so I'm hoping that I can address it there and figure it out. I'll report back... the catch was in full effect today... I went on a 15 minute bike ride and near the end it was almost unbearable.
There is no reason to exercise to the point of unbearable pain. You may be doing damage to your knee that way. Elevate and ice it. Then rest it for now.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hotornot
>i do not yet have my natural walk or gait back yet. My leg is stiff and I still walk with a very noticeable limp. I started PT last week. I'm making improvements in nice, small, daily chunks, thankfully. On days like that the sky is blue and I see a light at the end of the tunnel. The PT allows me to ride the stationary bicycle, but not a road bike. He started me with isometrics but we have yet to use any ankle weights. Right now we're focusing on getting my range of motion back and flexing my quad muscle
>i was full weight bearing on post-op day two or three. I got rid of the crutches around day three post op
>up until post-op day ten I stayed at home and was completely sedentary. Nine days post-op presented nothing unusual in the pain department. Note that I was either in bed, sitting on a chair or up and about hobbling around fixing something to eat but I never once left my apartment. I was prescribed Vicodin for pain, but I never took any. On post-op day ten I started to go outside as it was time for me to go see my surgeon. All I did that day was go see him and then later go to the supermarket. It was then later that day that I started to experience for the first time what I call "electric shocks" to my injured knee. On a scale of 1 to 10 the electric shock produces a level 9 feeling of pain. You definitely don't want to be carrying a carton of eggs or step in the shower or fire a gun at a target when you get one of these electric shocks. The shock lasts for only a split second and is gone as quickly as it appeared but make no mistake, it's painful. Guess you could say that it feels like a very quick and hard bee sting. Only once did I get an electric shock in a public place and it was kinda embarrassing. You grimace a little and you might say 'ouch' out loud and then you are just as quickly composed and feeling fine leaving people wondering what the heck that little display of pain was all about
>ever since day 10 post-op I average anywhere between 2 and 5 electric shocks a day, with a rare day when they are not felt. (I don't take any OTC or prescription meds, it's too soon for that, gotta give PT a chance). The $100 question is whether or not the electric shocks will go away once all the swelling goes down and once I get my full range of motion along with my strength back. (yes, knee still a little swollen 20+ days post-op!) Then again maybe the electric shock is something that'll never go away and is due to the dreaded buckethandle. Which means they'll have to either shoot some lubricants in my knee (Synvisc, hyaluronic acid or corticosteroids) or give me either a full or partial knee replacement. Ultimately the question might come down to whether or not I want to live with the electrical shocks 0-5 times a day on a daily basis and become a fanatical day-in, day-out gum chewer. I guess I can always bite down on chewing gum whenever I get an electric shock. I do know that the more I stay in bed off my feet, the less the shocks materialize. When I get on my high horse and start moving around, i.e, to go swimming, to go ride the stationary bicycle, to go do my PT excercises, to go to the store, or any day that combines all of that stuff along with a lot of limping around, I can expect to feel more shocks either on that day or the day after, which is a residual effect, I believe
>all in all if it wasn't for the electric shocks I'd say that my rate of progress has been very good and that I'm very pleased and pleasantly surprised with how well things are going in my first week of physical therapy, 20+ days post-op. Specifically, though my leg is still stiff and I walk with a limp, I have equal weight distribution over both of my legs. However, the electric shock matter leaves a huge question mark hanging over my head and I have no idea when, or if, the electric shock issue will ever be resolved. Yesterday was a very bad day as I had a record 7 or 8 electric shocks all in just one day. On days like that there is no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel. If the shocks don't go away, I'll have to make a radical change in lifestyle. I'll have to avoid going down a stairway, avoid going to certain public venues, avoid being in an area where I'm surrounded by people and give up my hobby of taking pictures in urban areas a.k.a. street photography.
I hope this helps anyone out there who is slated for the same type of surgery. Please leave a comment if you have anything to share, especially if you've been in my shoes and have experience with the same type of surgery.
It sounds to me like you may be just a hair on the ambitious side for your recovery. Knee meniscus isn't very vascular and does not have great blood flow which makes it very slow to heal from any injury. If you sprain a tendon in your ankle you will recover to about 95% within about 3 months, but you will not be back to 100% for about 18. If you tweak it in that time you are pushing your recovery date farther and farther back. That's why pro-football players have nagging injuries that follow them their entire careers. Knee cartilage is the same way. It takes a lot of time and TLC to get over an injury. I had a very similar complaint about three years ago. After years of heavy squats and power cleans, my knees still felt great but were just waiting for a catalyst to cause a flare up. That catalyst was the 2006 alumni lacrosse game. My knees swelled up like cantaloupes and protested to great effect every step. About two weeks elapsed with minimal improvement, so I went to see an orthopedist (who also happened to be my uncle). Upon review of the MRI, I had partially torn meniscus with severe wear immediately behind the knee-cap. His counsel was that it would take about a year to know how much better my knees would get and that after the elapse of 12 months we would re-evaluate whether or not I required an arthroscopic clean-up. In the meantime, he advised that my body was probably smarter than me about what I should or shouldn't be doing. In other words, avoid pain and you are probably avoiding injury. I nursed it for about six agonizing months before I started to notice that I didn't need to use the handrail on stairs. Then I could stand up from a chair without upper-body assistance. Then I could run for short bursts without pain. I tried to jog a bit too early, but I eased back into it again at about 10 months without trouble. Fast forward to present day and my knees feel as good as they did before the lacrosse game and I'm sans scars on the side of my knee.
Unless you clearly have serious ligament tear, I think that a major red flag should go up if a doctor advises surgery as a first option. Most things heal better than they can be fixed.
Well I'm 22 days post-op and seem to be doing really well. I have flexion of about 120-130 degrees depending upon how much pain I want to push through, with a goal of about 148.... I'm hoping to get there slowly with multiple flexion exercises through out the day... Always sore when I wake up and after watching a movie in a theater and driving in a car... I'm walking, biking, swimming laps and doing FX machine along with PT... I'm hoping to return to my job as a professional dancer singer by the end of the month. Slow progress.
Definately have 130 without any pain now and working on getting to 140 by the end of the week. Everytime I go get PT the next day I am sore as heck.... almost everywhere.... but no pain no gain.
Just had my PT appointment, and she did huge tests with all my leg muscles versus where I was just 1.5 weeks ago and I've gained 18 degrees to my flexsion... 120 to 138 and gained strength in every possible way. I'm hoping I get the green light from the Doctor tomorrow to return to work.
Well, got the green light from the doc, but now I'm having problems with my medical case worker because of some total stupid note he wrote regarding me not lifting heavy weights..... ugh I hate insurance BS.
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