[url=https://flic.kr/p/Tz9mMU]Last Ride[/url] by Matthew Bird, on Flickr

In for a knee replacement op later today due to an old injury years ago.
Luckily it was a beautiful morning for a last ride!
Anyone had one? How long out of the saddle do you reckon? Did you notice any difference?

Bump for anyone who can share any experiences. Just been recommended similar surgery myself.

Your knee will be crazy stiff after the surgery and the best way to get it moving again is exercise. Basically the more you use it the better, right off the bat. Your knee will now be made of titanium, so you’re not gonna break it, but we do see people who fail to get full range back and this is often due to being (understandably!) over cautious and ‘resting’ the knee too much. Follow the physio guidelines, smash out the exercises and get back on the bike as soon as poss 🙂

Watching this thread with interest! I need a replacement but have been told due to my age (41) I need to hang on as long as possible. Good luck Birdage and let us know how you progress..

Good info here

http://www.aahks.org/care-for-hips-and-knees/do-i-need-a-joint-replacement/total-knee-replacement/

The procedure is improving all the time, you can currently expect to get 10-20 years out of a knee replacement. here is a limit to the amount of times you can have it done- AFAIK you can currently have the procedure done twice

My dad had his done at the ages of 79 and 81.
As Shermer says, it’ll be very stiff at first and difficult / painful to follow through with the physio and exercises they give you, but follow them you must. It will hurt, but persist you must or it will take longer to get full range back, and hurt even more. Grit your teeth and you’ll be fine.

Good luck, OP, and let us all know how you get on please. I need one, and can just about ride without too much pain, but too scared to go ahead with it!

I’ve got a knee replacement in my future too… but also been told to hang on as long as possible.

Good luck birdage… and great that you had a fantastic pre-op ride

I had my left knee replaced 4 years ago (58) I’d got to the stage where cycling was still fine but I couldn’t walk more than a couple of hundred metres.
I rigged up a turbo trainer, saddle very high, rocked pedals back and forth for a few days until I could do a revolution. Progressed to pootling around the park etc. Lots of ice, elevation, bending and straightening (take the pain killers to ensure you can do the physio).
Eventually road bike was fine though very nervous on a mountain bike (no problems now, but I do wear knee pads as I wouldn’t fancy landing on the new knee!)
All good now,though saddle height is still critical as the new one doesn’t bend as much as the other.
Drop me an email if I can help further..
Good luck
Mike

Fantastic you got a last ride in!

The procedure is improving all the time, you can currently expect to get 10-20 years out of a knee replacement.

More than 10 years is based on you having a desk job and not doing much exercise, sadly the more sedentary you are the longer it will last. Hence having to try and hold out to 50+, as you say you can only have it replaced once and get a significant range of movement. Sadly ‘advances’ in TKR are no where near where I thought they might be, I had hoped for a leg like Terminator!

Thanks for posts, much to consider. Hopefully useful for OP. Surgeon told me that at 54 to try and hang on until 60+ (eg via self medication ibuprofen etc and not doing too much 🙁 ) as the number of replacements is limited (2) and at 10 years each it’s better done later in life to avoid outliving the knee …

A mate was riding again in 6 weeks…
The swelling still looked horrendous, mind

Had my left tkr 7 weeks ago right tkr about 2 1/2 years ago. every one is different with recovery. what i would like to say is dont get upsette when physio is telling you to bend at 90 degreese 2 or 3 days after the operation. Just work hard at the physio and within a few weeks it will get a lot easier but will take upto 12 months to feel like its actually your knee. I have 125 degree bend and was told thats about max. Would like to say if your knees are affecting everyday life i would get them done but if its a bit annoying and gives abit of pain occasionally i would hang on to original knee as long as possible. happy whith the results of mine so far. Apologies for spelling mistakes but this aint an english lesson 😀

. I have 125 degree bend 

This is actually very good! Nice work 🙂

Thanks shermer. where is birdage would like to know how hes getting on

Not quite the same but I shattered my right patella 18 months ago. I couldn’t walk for 7 weeks and it was very stiff at first. It’s still improving now. I can walk down very steep slopes issue free which was a no go for the first 6 months and I can run a bit on soft surfaces with no issue.

@fallsoff I have sent birdage a nudge/PM, he messaged me directly before the thread was bumped but I don’t want to share his PM

Thanks for feedback

Thanks Jambalaya will respect his privacy.hope hes ok. I know tkr is a routine operation nowadays but still feels like some one has smashed a lump hammer into the knee for the first week or two.

Thanks for the healing vibes and really useful to hear other experiences. I haven’t found that much in terms of real-life experience so good to know.

Difficult to know how I’m doing in terms of progress and where I should be at this stage. Doing the exercises and getting about ok on 2 crutches up and down the stairs. Finding it hard to get any real bend in the knee mainly due to the horrendous swelling. It’s like very compacted styrofoam that you can’t push against.

Had the op 2 weeks ago and it went really well the first day. Problems started with the meds. I can’t take codeine, morphine, opiates or ibruprofen so when they gave me stuff I was zombiefied, nauseous and really dizzy. Not the best state to do physio. Meant I wasn’t eating anything either. Took 6 days to get out of hospital but I’ve picked up since. On a mix of paracetamol and gabapentin and lots and lots of ice. Pain is worse at night. Especially when I hear the bikes mewing in the garage.

Approaching the exercises a little gentler now. Was probably overdoing them at first and ended up with a pulled muscle a couple of nights ago. Ahh more pain.

Tomorrow I hassle the local pyhisos for an appointment. Just need to know I’m on track.

Thanks again.

Tomorrow I hassle the local pyhisos for an appointment.

Yes, definitely definitely definitely hassle the local physios. Rehabing a TKR is a lot of work! Getting up and down the stairs is a good sign though. Are you going one step at a time (as in bad leg steps up to the step with the good foot on) or two (the bad leg goes to the step directly above the one with the good leg on)?

good to hear you’re getting on ok birdage.

Hope the physio appointment gets sorted soon – as it’s always good to know you’re doing the right thing from someone else who’s seen all this many times before.

Don’t forget to keep your spirits up with whatever it takes. Smiles and laughter are the best of healers

Thanks again. Shermer, I was tackling the stairs in the ‘classic crutch’ way one at a time. Can sort of navigate them normally but a) my leg doesn’t bend enough and b) we have really steep stairs and I nearly fell down them. Good extra challenge for tomorrow though.

Just wanted to add that I recently turned 50 and would have hung on if I could but the knee had got too bad. I got sciatica because of overcompensating with the other leg and walking to the shops and back constantly left me aching. Was starting to affect the riding too. One bad rugby tackle when I was 20 and this is the end result.

It does worry me that I’ll possibly have to have the op again but who knows by that point we’ll all be on autonomous ebikes….

Hi birdage. not a doc or physio but coming up towards week 8 of recovery. In all honesty i wouldnt worry much on the bend after 2 weeks.i was only about 45 degrees at 2 weeks. first tkr was only about 20 degreese flexion at 4 weeks but kept doing the exercise and staples out and swelling down and all gets a hell of a lot easier. the method i got good flexion a lot quicker this time was foot flat on floor while seated and bend leg untill it gets uncomfortable and lift ball of foot off the floor keeping the heel on the floor by using the ankle.does that even make sense?. tramadol and paracetemol 4 times a day with some codeine and ibrufen chucked in. had to ween myself off the tramadol and codeine slowly. It feels shit when you think your getting knowhere with the exercises but great with the tiny victories like the first straight leg lift. sorry for rambling but iknow its a lot of hard work and pain but the rewards of walking without pain for the first time in years after my first tkr were absalutely worth it.Not sure if any of this helps but i really can say i feel your pain 🙂

A mate had his done recently, and got this as a great way to manage pain and swelling:
https://www.promedics.co.uk/products/kodiak-cold-therapy.
He would sleep with it on, and still uses it after the initial rehab period.
When my eldest had his ACL tendon repaired in Feb we got one, and it works very well. You fill the ice box with ice and water and it pumps it around a pad on your knee for hours at a time.
It’s around £200 all in.
The boy can wear it when he sits and revises for his GCSE’s.
My mate takes his on golf holidays, and is really really pleased with it.

That’s really useful to hear fallsoffalot. Will give it a go. I’ve been sitting in a chair, starting with my leg at relaxed bend and my toes wedged against the wall and then sort of wiggling forward with the chair so the leg is pushed back.

Did look at the cold therapy but thought I’d try a, icepack compression cuff first. Seems to work fairly well with a good chiller effect.

Thanks jambalaya for bumping this. It’s really helping me get a bit more perspective.

I just popped on here to post about knee-based grief & read through this thread with interest – had problems for years including surgery for a meniscus tear & recently had another scan showing a few areas of complete articular cartilage loss round the femur / patella interface & been advised to stop doing whatever hurts…

Sadly this seems to be mountain biking as I can do 100 miles per week commuting on the road bike and then another 50-80 miles on the weekend on the good-est road bike without too much grief – maybe down to the reduction in twisting movements, impacts etc. – has anyone had similar issues & found anything that’s helped (a change in riding style / moar suspension / lighter bike?) or are my days of trail-centre mincing over?

The last thing I want is to make it worse at 38 & I don’t want to think about surgery until it’s a last resort – would rather cut back before going under the knife, last consultant I spoke to mentioned some kind of micro-abrasion which is supposed to stimulate the regrowth of fibral cartilage in the affected area but that’s not something that sounded too appealing…

Heal up soon OP!

J

How you getting on birdage. Any improvement on the rom yet.Ive had a bit of a set back at the moment though when my partially sighted great dane give my new knee a glancing blow while running at full tilt much pain and swearing.

It seems to have taken forever but after 9 months, 2 operations and flip knows how many hours of physio I got back onto the Downs this morning. Only a short loop on the Gryphon but it was rough ground and I went up (and down) a hill.

Slightly painful but it will improve and I’m feeling pretty joyful right now!

Ask for the bone back to make broth!

Did you have to go back for mobilisation under general anaesthetic?

Yes. They had to force the bend under general and put me on the ‘movement machine’ for 12 hours. It had got glued in such a way that I couldn’t get past a 70 degree bend whatever the effort or pain. Get a slight click in the joint every rotation but hopeful this will fade as I get the miles in.

Hoping singlespeed is still an option cause I’d finally got my perfect build before the op but will just have to see how it goes.

I’ve got 95 degrees btw. My physio refuses to do single degrees but I think it’s closer to 97!

My physio refuses to do single degrees but I think it’s closer to 97!

Haha typical! Just as long as it’s enough to turn a crank, that’s the main thing! 🙂

I see no problem with returning to a single speed just as long as you keep the strength up in the muscles surrounding the knee joint. Also, as I’m sure your physio is telling you, it’s all about graded return to activity. So no diving straight into all day epic hill climbs!! 🙂

Thanks for the advice Shemer. I’ll take that as reason enough to keep the bike! Been on the turbo trainer alot and it’s definitely easier on the road bike.

…the “last ride” thing sounds a bit sad so…

Get all these things done and hope you are soon – an free of pain – in the saddle again!!!

Best for your OP!

Cheers!