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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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I guess I would now add that three years later, kneeling on my right (artificial) knee is very creepy-feeling and something I avoid almost entirely. It seems it will any second explode in pain and that putting pressure on the front of the knee is not at all a safe thing to do. Other than this particular use of my leg, it is now superior in all respects to my remaining natural L. knee, now wearing down bone-on-bone.
I would underplay the notion that recovery is some hellish experience lasting months. In my experience I was effing hiking in the Berkeley Hills with crutches about a week after the replacement. Vandiver was my slavedriver, I will admit however.
Everyone needs a slavedriver during recovery; you are loaded on opiates and think you are flourishing there on the couch with the auto-flexer machine doing all the work of pushing your knee's range of motion. But the matter at hand is to get out and start using your new present. Now after these years since, the joint is really powerful, firm, completely pain-free and stable.
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philo
Trad climber
Is that light the end of the tunnel or a train?
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My artificial knee is 22 years old. And I still don't like kneeling on it.
FYI Arcteryx makes the best knee pads I have ever used.
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Edward Clive Foden
Gym climber
Norfolk
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Aug 26, 2014 - 08:36am PT
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Just had a right knee replacement a week ago. The old one completely stopped me climbing about four years ago (Ok it was only gym climbing for the last twenty). Already It feels more stable and I'm in the painful start of rehab. I'll keep you posted as to progress. My physiothrapist has told me that despite being 62 I could easily set myself a goal of climbing the Matterhorn. (A childhood dream completely ignored for the last 25 years)
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Skywonger32
Trad climber
Long Beach, Ca
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Aug 26, 2014 - 11:14am PT
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Hi Jeff,
I am a climber and Doctor of Physical Therapy Student. Before PT School, I worked in outpatient orthopedics as an Aide for 4 years and saw many patients before and post-total knee arthroplasty (knee replacement).
During my last clinical rotation I was at a highly-regarded Medical Center in Southern California on the Orthopedics floor where I saw many patients post-TKA. You are right in that most patients walk the very same day of surgery after a knee replacement. In fact, I was the first person to get a particular patient out of bed and walking just a few hours after being in the operating room and observing his actual surgery. New research is showing that early mobilization after surgery leads to better outcomes. Your knee is structurally 100% strong right after your surgery... its just all the muscles/tendons/ligaments that the surgeon cut through that need time to recover/rehab.
Everyone is correct in emphasizing physical therapy before the surgery. Patients who are in good condition before the TKA tend to have better outcomes. Also some patients I have worked with have been able to avoid getting the knee replacement surgery just with Physical Therapy alone. Many factors to consider and everyone is different.
Feel free to message me if you have any questions.
--Laura
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zBrown
Ice climber
Brujò de la Playa
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Aug 26, 2014 - 12:28pm PT
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My artificial knee is 22 years old. And I still don't like kneeling on it.
FYI Arcteryx makes the best knee pads I have ever used.
What is the MTBF? No lifetime guarantee I spose. Wife's mom had knee done twice with 20 year interval.
I'm still holding out for stem cell therapy, since as far as they can tell I "just" have torn meniscus (medial BOTH).
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Need to have Jeff check back in here, but any updates from those of you who've had replacements - we need to get Jeff back in commission...
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slabbo
Trad climber
colo south
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4 months post op for the knee (to go along with both hips). It's still a bit tender, not pain. I think that the whole leg needs time to adjust, but it's going OK.
I can walk uphill a bit and snowshoeing isn't bad for a while. i am still pretty careful walking in mud or snow/ice.
Easy climbing soon...
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jeff isn't going to be able to get on here for a week or two, but on talking to him he said he got a partial knee replacement and apparently (well, he showed me...) his natural knee bends at an acute enough angle (heel-to-butt) in a high step and he can also 'get up and over it' movement- and weighting-wise. Apparently the replacement has a hard stop at a less acute angle leaving his body further away from the knee in a high step and so he can't then 'get up and over it' movement- and weighting-wise. Or at least not without the possibility of blowing the stops and breaking the replacement. Sounds exactly like blowing cam stops...
Does this sound familiar to any of you? Or do you have 'full' range of motion in the replacement (trying to sort out if it's a design issue).
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slabbo
Trad climber
colo south
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I call it useful range of motion...P/T and Docs get geared up over angles...sure i can bend back pretty good, but can I do anything then ?
Of course rang of motion is essential, but I think recovering muscle is just as important.
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kpinwalla2
Social climber
WA
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Jul 12, 2015 - 11:10am PT
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I had a total left knee replacement on July 7 and am now recuperating at a friend's house in Portland where the surgery was performed. I'm walking around the house on crutches and doing all the exercises and PT thanks to my wonderful slave-driver wife. I'd love to hear any updates from the folks on this thread, words of encouragement/advice/tips, and do's and don't's from other folks that have endured this.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jul 12, 2015 - 01:19pm PT
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Hope you have a speedy recovery - keep us posted as to how it's going, lots of folks are probably candidates and would like to know. And who did the surgery?
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kpinwalla2
Social climber
WA
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Jul 12, 2015 - 04:37pm PT
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Surgery was performed by Donald Roberts at Rebound Orthopedics - as far as I can tell he's one of the best in the business and the reason why I came to PDX for the procedure. I had two prior meniscus surgeries. The MRI before the first one showed I had "the cartilage of a 20 year-old" while the MRI after the second one 4 years later showed bone-on-bone on the inside of the left knee. The first surgery bought me 3 more years of pain free activity but evidently at the cost of a bunch of cartilage. I was told that I'd lose cartilage after that first meniscus surgery but I didn't think I'd lose that much that fast. Dr. Roberts totally lived up to my expectations and the staff was very professional. I'm 5 days out and walking on crutches with essentially no pain but still lots of swelling, weakness, and instability in the joint. I'm a side sleeper so that''s hard - have to put a pillow between my legs. I've only taken 6-8 small doses of hydrocodone - mostly in the evening to make it easier to sleep. I'm going to try to be totally religious with the PT and exercises - and have been so far, with the help of my attentive wife.
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kpinwalla2
Social climber
WA
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Jul 19, 2015 - 01:08pm PT
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Progress so far - walking with crutches with little pain at 7 days. Driving (left knee replaced) at 10 days. Walking with one crutch as of today - day 11. Still quite swollen and stiff and can't bend much past 90 degrees. Tends to swell more and ache at end of day making it difficult to sleep - the only time I take any pain meds. No pain when at rest or when crutch walking. The pain I endured when walking for the past year has vanished. So far so good.
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