(08-05-2024, 09:48 AM)harm_less Wrote: In the words of my surgeon in his pre-op pep talk, "the first few weeks are pretty shit to be honest" which is pretty accurate based on my 2 knee ops to date (semi on RHS 16 years ago, LHS full joint recently).

The rate of recovery (bounce back) very much relates to the patients level of fitness and existing health factors from what I've seen. Of the 3 knees done by my surgeon on the same day the physio who cleared me for leaving hospital commented that I was up and mobile (crutches, walking frame) within 12 hours whereas the others were struggling with nausea and/or pain tolerances. To be fair I'm mid 60s and actively managing 7 acres with livestock and maintenance work on a regular basis and my qualified nutritionist partner keeps my diet on track. Excess weight and/or existing health issues would definitely be challenges following what is considered to be one of the more complex and painful common surgeries.

The follow up physio's advice has been to use my body's pain levels be a guide to how far to push his exercise regime as overdoing will require a day or two's inactivity to recover which is counterproductive overall and potentially damaging. One 'interesting' experience was sudden extreme pain from the outer side of my knee that happened as I awkwardly got up from my Laziboy a couple of weeks back which had me seeing stars and prevented my from putting socks and shoes on for the best part of a week. According to my surgeon he puts small cuts in the band that runs up the outside of the thigh as this can tighten as part of the recovery process and those cuts act as perforations that can release as required. The pain I experienced was most probably one of those perforations parting slightly. Enough to serve as a warning against overdoing things and compromising the surgeons good work, and the cost of the procedure.