By eight weeks after knee replacement surgery, many people expect to feel “back to normal.” In reality, pain and stiffness, reduced confidence and limited strength are still common at this stage.
If progress has plateaued, it doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong, but it may mean you could do with some face-to-face help.
Swelling May Still Be Present
Swelling within the knee can take time to reduce, especially if ice hasn’t been used, or if movement hasn’t been great. The act of moving the knee, helps to move fluid and remove swelling, so if you have been quite sedentary, this will affect the swelling around the knee.
- Ice the area every hour for approx 10 minutes.
- Get up and walk around every hour, increase your distance slightly on every walk.
- Use a static bike to get the knee moving without having to weight bare through the leg.
- Use a knee support when walking to limit swelling.
Lack of movement post Knee Replacement
Moving in the early days of your knee replacement is painful. The urge is to keep the knee still. The nerves can be highly sensitive around this area making things worse. However, without movement, the muscles can become shortened and this can create stiffness and more pain in the area. The inner range quadriceps muscles in particular can be slow to recover from surgery, and these muscles help you to fully straighten your knee and to walk.
Movement Patterns
It is important to get up and walking quickly after a knee replacement and to use crutches. This is because the crutches help you to walk with a normal gait. Many people try to rush off their pain killers and crutches, but this is unwise. The pain killers are needed to ensure you can fully bend and extend your knee. The crutches are essential to ensure your walking gait remains normal. If walking mechanics changed early on, compensations can persist creating stiffness and sometimes pain elsewhere in the body.
If you feel your recovery has stalled, a structured assessment can help identify what is limiting progress and whether targeted rehabilitation would be beneficial. If you are based in Kenilworth, Leamington Spa or Warwick, take a look at our Post-Knee Replacement rehabilitation programme and we will get you back on track.