👯‍♀️ 👯‍♀️ Hips and knees Part 5 👯‍♀️ 👯‍♀️

If you have an infection, however minor, please do not self-treat, you may need antibiotics because of your joint replacement, no matter how old it is.

My newish knees do not like this cold weather either but Spring is around the corner.

I feel grot all over in cold damp weather! I hope everyone will feel better soon - roll on Spring. Nice to see some new names here susytish and Flur, hips have had it all their own way lately. Silverlining48 how’re you doing?

My knees used to feel worse in cold damp weather.

Hi Susytish, my new knee (christmas 23) is swollen (2 inches more than my first new knee (March 23)). Its not a major problem, no pain and my mobility and balance are OK. It's like a wide very tight band around my knee particularly at the back. My osteopath said I just need to
give it time and ice it hourly. I can't possibly ice it in this weather but exercise does help and strong ibuprofen gel around my knee. Like you I have been laid up with a virus and the rest did help but I feel it has set me back.i want to
do so much = walking group, gym class etc. The first knee can do all that but the 2 year old can't.
Hope your antibiotics work quickly and you get mobile again soon

Is anyone else having problems with their knee. My new knee was Feb 2023 and has been great but in the last few days it has felt stiff. I have had a chest infection and not been very mobile and the cold weather too.
On strong antibiotics now so hope that will sort it and I can get mobile again.

It's nice to let the fresh air get to it. My hip.op was in summer so I just wore a large dress (and pants of course!) so no need for trousers to rub against the scar.

Morning all hipsters and TKRers

I ripped my bandage off last night. I hope to leave it off now though the nurse left a spare. The wound isn't as
itchy now.

How's everyone else doing today?

The snow has almost gone now so hopefully it will be possible to go out and about soon.

I agree wholeheartedly with grammargran. It's only when you remember how bad things were that you can appreciate your current state.
The best way with swelling is to walk about this allowing the muscles to pump away the excess fluid.

Grammaretto my ankle was swollen for the first three or four weeks which drove me bonkers, especially at night under warm bedclothes, but that passed eventually. The biggest lesson I’ve learned on here is that this is the one time when to look forward is not so motivating as looking back. By looking back every so often you can see how far you’ve travelled along your recovery road which isn’t always apparent because it seems so slow at the time. For instance when now, at nearly nine weeks, I find myself slipping quite easily in and out of bed, I look back a few weeks when it was such a chore. I’m still desperately impatient to “ditch the stick” but it’s quite apparent it isn’t going to happen any time soon so I’ve just got to grin and bear it - ugh! Keep smiling!

Enjoy the rest when you have a valid excuse. It is not bone idleness.

If your leg is swollen, you could put a couple of pillows under the mattress at the bottom. If you put them directly under your legs, they can cause a DVT, a deep vein thrombosis.

My followup isn't until the end of March and it's just a zoom call.
It's wonderful to be able to consult you!
I am really not overdoing things. I'm still in bed and don't have plans to get up. 😂

Even the simple exercises I was sent home with seemed pretty challenging at first. I think you have to grit your teeth and get on with it. If you put off 'challenging' it will just take longer to recover. Just take it at a sensible pace, start gently and don't overdo it.
I took the view that even though some movements were hard to start with there was improvement in prospect and nothing post op was anything like as bad as the pain I'd been having before the op.

I know that every one will have different recovery rates and I know I've done well in quite a short period of time. 5 months on I tend to forget that I have an artificial joint, it just feels 'normal. But I'm positive you'll all get there well before 1st July😆

I would have thought a minimum of 6 weeks, but I would get medical advice before I hopped on an exercise bike.

I think you are trying to run before you can walk, please be careful.

Trisha I mentioned the bike idea to a friend yesterday and she immediately offered to lend me hers. It's a good one apparently. She said she'd bring it round today! Hang on, said I, can hardly walk let alone cycle.

How long after the hip operation can we begin to do more challenging exercise?

Grammaretto

That's very reassuring Nannytopsy.
Next week I shall investigate what's available round here.

My Sister who had her THR 12 yrs ago and is off skiing soon says her most useful prop was her static bicycle, but if I was to get one, wait until after the keep- fit flurry of January and find a good one second hand.
My Christmas present from my DC are a new set of walking poles

Roll on July Charleygirl

Grammaretto I would agree with your sister, my static bike gets daily use and was a great help after my THR in July 22.

Mine is a recumbent exercise bike, much easier to get on and off than a standard one, plus less pressure on the knees.
Down side is it takes up more space.

Yes, my knees clunked occasionally, but I was not bothered because neither gave way. If your knee gives way please get help.

As lovely as it is to rest our muscles, unfortunately, we still need them to work, or we will be heaps on the ground.

When you remember, get each working 10 times, and it will make a difference.

See, it seems it doesn’t matter whether it’s hips or knees, it’s all about those darned muscles!

Thank you Cornergran a clunking sensation. T’interweb says it’s normal.

When I asked my surgeon about my new knee giving me a sense of it ‘clunking’ nannyt he had a look and said the thigh muscles needed to strengthen and it would go. He was right, took a while but no sense of clunks now. I’m not sure if you mean you can hear a noise, I never could, just a sensation.

Hope that helps but if you’re worried perhaps ask for a check.

Are odd clunks acceptable from the new knee?

I plucked July out of the air—some of you will be almost running sooner than that. It would be nice for it to be marginally warmer so we could go out safely. I am not even going near my bins as it is -6 C here. I keep feeling the radiator to make sure the heating is still on.

Good idea. Hope we remember!

Charleygirl5 I suggest we all have an official reunion on this thread on 1 July ……

Grammaretto May I suggest you "try before you buy"? I bought myself one many years ago, long before my knee problems surfaced. I had problems getting on and off safely, and I was not comfortable on the bike.

I know soop is on hers for at least 30 minutes each time, but I hated mine.

Save your money and keep walking.

That's very reassuring Nannytopsy.
Next week I shall investigate what's available round here.

My Sister who had her THR 12 yrs ago and is off skiing soon says her most useful prop was her static bicycle, but if I was to get one, wait until after the keep- fit flurry of January and find a good one second hand.
My Christmas present from my DC are a new set of walking poles

Roll on July Charleygirl