MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
My old man who is 60 is having his first one done after 40 years of competetive football (yes, I do mean 40 years, he played his last semi-pro game at 55) have destroyed them.
Has anyone got an expereince of it, either from themselves or relatives/friends? We've got all the info from the doctors and consultants but I wondered if anyone had any real world experiences of the op and/or the recovery.
Thanks in advance.
My Dad had it done 2 years ago - all went well and he did a lot of exercising afterwards to get it working again (but also so that he could go on a golf trip to Austria!). I seem to remeber he was walking short distances within the week without a crutch. He is a big unit too 😀
He had a minor infection afterwards, which dealt with by antibiotics. It's taken about 18 months to settle down to something that feels normal, but it's now a far better situation for him than the previous pain and swelling that occured on a daily basis.
All good news for him - although he did have a mate at the golf club who had it done badly, got an infection and lost his lower leg 😯
I know 3 people who have had it done. Back on their feet pretty quickly but takes some time before they can be subjected to too much strain. One of the 3 ignored medical advice about doing too much too soon so that he now needs both of them replacing again after 2 years.
The key bits of advice seem to be:
1) Get the leg muscles as strong as possible before the op - obviously not easy if you have knee problems, but every little helps
2) Do not try to do too much too early, especially anything that puts stress on the joints
My wife had a knee replacement about 2 years ago.As we lived abroad it was done privately but the aftercare was very poor.
My wife took very little notice of the advice she was given after the op with regards to excercise and what to avoid,and she's paying the price now.We have just been to see a specialist here in the UK and he said the aftercare is more important than the operation itself.
My wife will have to have ongoing treatment to try and rectify the damage she did after the op.
Listen to the experts.
Operation lasts 45 mins to 1hr. Probably up on their feet the same day, if not it'll be the following day. Doesn't always work that well, but when it does it works brilliantly. From my experience if there have been maladaptive changes to the muscles arond the knee, that's when outcomes arent quite as good.
mum (73) had new knee about 6 months ago, we were epxecting the worst and she is not the most strong person.
she was in for 3 days after the op.
she did her exercises to build her muscle back up etc and within 2 months she was pottering about again.
her op was a bit more complicated as they had to twist her leg back by a few degrees so the bruising was massive.
she is a different woman now which is good to see.
All interesting views, thanks.
I suspect he will have 2 main challenges, firstly his knees are very bowed so the muscules will have to adapt to him having a straight leg for the first time since he was was a teenager. Second, he is getting his worst (left) knee done first but the other one is not great either and I/he worry that the increased preasure on the good (in the loosest sence) knee will make a mess of it.