How To Get Rid Of Knee Pain Without Surgery
Chronic pain resulting from knee injury limits mobility and keeps people away from enjoying things they once liked. However, you may recognize that going for knee replacement is too early. So is there any other option? Is there any other way to restore knee health apart from the surgical intervention? Yes, there is. The answer is the advent of regenerative medication. It is different from conventional therapies and is minimally invasive. Since regenerative medicine does not involve surgical processes, it is one of the most popular options among medical practitioners. After examining the joint and determining other related aspects, your doctor may help you with this non-invasive treatment option.
Pain Control After Joint Replacement
Joint replacement surgery, such as knee and hip replacement, is often done to reduce the pain caused by arthritis. However, in the days following surgery, some patients pain is just as bad or even worse than their original arthritic pain. While we understand that surgery without any pain is the exception and not the rule, we take pain very seriously and take a multidisciplinary approach to limiting pain to maximize recovery.
Listen To Music Or Watch Tv
Listen to music or watch TV. Now I will admit there are times the pain is so bad that it doesnt matter what music is on, or what TV show is on the TV. But that can be said on any of these techniques.
The great thing about music and TV is that there is such a variety. During high pain attacks, I usually listened to fast-paced music because it was very distracting to me. I also tried to find songs I really loved and knew some of the lyrics too. This was extra distracting to me. The TV shows were great for pain distraction and last night insomnia . I just watched whatever I was in the mood for that day, no extra tricks.
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What Can Cause Knee Pain Years After A Knee Replacement
There is no single cause of pain after a knee surgery. Experts believe that it may be due to a number of biological factors already present before the procedure, while others stem from complications that arise during surgery.
For instance, one biological contributing factor to persistent pain may be arthritis, which a patient may have already suffered from even before the surgery. Having arthritis increases the likelihood of experiencing increased sensitivity after the procedure.
Other sources of pain may be allergy-related problems and referred pain, which is pain in other parts of the body aside from the knee.
However, if one experiences ongoing pain without a history of arthritis or other conditions that are mentioned, then the pain may be due to surgical complications.
On the surgical side, the most common causes of pain after knee surgery include:
- Infection
- Knee stiffness
- Nerve injuries
If your pain is not getting better after the initial postoperative period, it is important to be honest with your doctors about symptoms you are experiencing. This will help the both of you come up with the best treatment plan for pain management.
Opioid Benefits And Risks
- The medicine works quickly.
- You will feel less pain.
- You will be able to be active to speed your recovery. For every day you stay in bed, you need 3 days to regain your strength.
- You will be able to sleep or rest better.
Potential risks are:
- Taking an opioid can lead to addiction.
- On average, more than 130 people die each day in the U.S. from an overdose of opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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How To Get Rid Of Unused Opioids
Do not keep unused medicine “in case” you think you may need it. Having it in the house where other adults, children or pets could reach it is unsafe.
- To get rid of unused opioids, bring them to a drop-off location or to an Allina Health Pharmacy. To find a location near you:
- Minnesota: Go to pca.state.mn.us and type “household hazardous waste” in the search box.
- Wisconsin: Go to dnr.wi.gov and type “health care waste” in the search box.
Do Your Exercises And Stretches
When the pain and stiffness set in, its imperative to do the exercises the doctor recommends. I know it sounds crazy because its the last thing you really want to do when youre in pain, but movement helps knock out swelling and stiffness, which will, in turn, decrease pain.
They were times that they would get so bad that nothing seems to help. The slow, steady stretch also helped relieve pain.
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Immediately After The Operation
Doctors have made big advances in pain management after total knee replacement over the last 10 to 15 years due to advancements in using regional nerve blocks, spinal blocks, and other methods of pain control.
During knee surgery, your healthcare team might either use a general anesthetic, where you will be fully asleep, or a localized anesthetic, where youre numb from the waist down but still awake.
After the surgery anesthesia wears off, your healthcare team can provide pain medication either orally or through an intravenous tube.
These medications may include a strong opiate or opioid such as morphine, fentanyl, or oxycodone, and are intended only for short-term use. Its important to note that larger doses over time can lead to physical dependence and addiction. Follow your doctors instructions to avoid adverse effects.
Short Term Problems After Knee Replacement
Specific problems after partial knee replacement surgery are rare but may include:
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What Not To Do After Knee Replacement
After undergoing a partial or total knee replacement, there are certain movements to refrain from to avoid re-injuring your knee or causing pain.
Avoid any risk of falling After knee surgery, it will take a while before you regain strength and balance in the leg, making you more likely to experience a fall. Avoid activities like climbing ladders and take care to hold on to handrails when using stairs. Hiking or walking on the uneven ground should also be avoided until your knee is properly healed.
Dont sit for long periods Sitting for long periods after knee replacement surgery is correlated with a higher risk of blood clots. Make sure youre getting enough light activity to support healing after your operation.
Running Running puts three times the amount of pressure on the knee as walking. Avoid running while youre healing from knee replacement surgery until cleared to do so by your doctor.
Ways To Manage Pain After Hip Or Knee Replacement Surgery
1. Take Your Pain Medication Like Clockwork
A lot of people are afraid of prescription pain medication . Everyone has heard horror stories about addiction and the opioid epidemic. However, when used responsibly for a short period of time, pain medication can be of great assistance in your recovery. After all, pain medications are created toyou guessed ittreat physical pain!
When taking your prescribed narcotics, make sure that you know exactly what youre taking and when you should be taking them. Be sure that your physician knows of any other medications that youre on that could interfere with the prescribed narcotics. Do not take more than prescribed dose. In a similar vein, do not take a lower dose than your doctor has recommended before speaking with your care team.
Its important to take your pain medication like clockwork in the days and first week that follow surgery. If you lower your dose without your physician signing-off, you may notice spikes of pain at night, have trouble sleeping, and actually roadblock your own ability to complete the necessary steps in your recovery. If youre experiencing too much pain, you wont sleep well, you wont perform the required exercises, and you will take-away from your own recovery.
2. Ice and Elevate
3. Keep-Up with Exercises and Physical Therapy
4. Get Tissue Massages
5. Try Pain Management Alternatives
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What Should I Expect During The First Six Weeks After Discharge
During the first six weeks after discharge, you should be making progress week by week. Most patients are eager to report their progress at follow-up visits and are ready to move to the next level in their recovery. Most patients can accomplish the following during the first six weeks after total joint replacement:
- Walk without help on a level surface with the use of walker, crutches or cane as appropriate.
- Climb stairs as tolerated.
- Get in and out of bed without help.
- Get in and out of a chair or car without help.
- Shower using a tub bench once staples are removed as long as there are no issues with the incision.
- Resume your activities of daily living including cooking, light chores, walking and going outside the home. You should certainly be awake and moving around most of the day.
- Some patients return to work before the first follow-up visit. This is approved on an individual basis and should be discussed with your surgeon.
Icing and elevation
After a joint replacement, swelling is expected. Swelling can cause increased pain and limit your range of motion, so taking steps to reduce the swelling is important. Continue using ice packs or some form of cold therapy to help reduce swelling.
Sexual activity after joint replacement
Many people worry about resuming sexual activity after a joint replacement.
Resuming your diet
If youre not eating well after surgery, contact your healthcare provider about nutritional supplements.
Physical Therapy And Massage Therapy In Treating Chronic Pain
If you talk about the non-invasive treatment, they are applied externally and help relieve inflammation and pain while restoring flexibility and mobility. It is a typical conservative treatment that includes rest, compression, size, and elevation with different therapies. It not only limits your flexibility but also affects your overall posture. Remember that knee pain and knee joint issues require time to heal. Hence, if you get hold of a non-invasive treatment method, it can help you get back to ordinary life within no time.
On the other hand, physical therapy helps relieve severe sprain or strain. You may require extra help from professionals and therapists. Physical treatment of QC Kinetix helps rehabilitate the knees and makes them stronger. On the other hand, massage therapy focuses on trigger points and tries to relieve them from the pain resulting from different injuries and regular wear and tear.
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What Is A Knee Replacement Surgery
Knee replacement, also called knee arthroplasty or total knee replacement, is a surgical procedure toresurface a knee damaged by arthritis. Metal and plastic parts are used tocap the ends of the bones that form the knee joint, along with the kneecap.This surgery may be considered for someone who has severe arthritis or asevere knee injury.
Various types of arthritis may affect the knee joint. Osteoarthritis, adegenerative joint disease that affects mostly middle-aged and olderadults, may cause the breakdown of joint cartilage and adjacent bone in theknees. Rheumatoid arthritis, which causes inflammation of the synovialmembrane and results in excessive synovial fluid, can lead to pain andstiffness. Traumatic arthritis, arthritis due to injury, may cause damageto the cartilage of the knee.
The goal of knee replacement surgery is to resurface the parts of the kneejoint that have been damaged and to relieve knee pain that cannot becontrolled by other treatments.
Knee Replacement Pain A Year And Beyond
The goal of knee replacement surgery is to help you get back to the activities you love. Your doctor will encourage you to stay fit through activities like swimming, cycling, and even golf. This type of exercise will help you stay limber and pain-free.
On the contrary, there are certain activities that could negatively affect the prosthetic joint materials in place. Even normal use will begin to wear out the implants, but excessive weight or activity can cause your knee replacement to loosen and become painful. You may need to avoid running, jogging, high-impact exercises, and contact sports for the rest of your life following surgery.
The good news is that studies show more than 90% of total knee replacements are still functioning properly 15 years after surgery. Staying healthy and following the advice of your doctor will help you achieve these long-term benefits.
While its possible for pain to persist for a year and beyond, it shouldnt be debilitating. Scar tissue can continue to heal, as well as the muscles in your knee, but if youre suffering from ongoing pain after a year, always talk to your doctor.
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What Should I Expect
Its important to note that everyone has different pain level tolerances, and no two cases are the same because our knees are complex joints. Knees are the second-largest joints in the body, after the hip joints. As such, a knee replacement is a complicated surgery that involves balancing ligaments, cutting into the bones of the knee joint, and replacing parts of the knee joint with artificial parts. The manipulation of the knee joint to place the parts leads to the pain after the procedure. Postoperative pain after knee replacement surgery is related to the healing, stretching, bending, and rotating that the knee must do after surgery.
Knee Replacement Pain After Three Months
Swelling and bruising can continue for three months or more following knee replacement surgery. However, it varies from patient to patient and depends on the condition you were in before surgery. Many patients are back to their activities without the pain they had before surgery by this stage of recovery.
If you find that any movement or activity is still exceedingly painful after three months, you may be experiencing chronic pain. Chronic pain is defined as pain persisting for three months or longer. Its a condition that affects roughly 20% of knee replacement surgery patients. It can develop and increase in intensity in the weeks and months following surgery. This can have a huge impact on your overall quality of life. Talk to your doctor for help.
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Medications You May Receive At Home Include:
Tylenol in higher doses , Tylenol is a very good pain reliever and works well with other medications to increase their effect. Patients with liver issues should consult their physician for dose recommendations. Patients should take no more that 3000mg of Tylenol daily.
Celecoxib selective anti-inflammatory medication which has fewer stomach and bone side effects when compared with more classic anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen and naproxen. We often use Aspirin after surgery to limit blood clots, and Celebrex is safer in these patients for the stomach than ibuprofen . It should be limited in patients with a sulfa allergy, renal insufficiency, or severe heart disease.
Tramadol strong pain reliever that is not a narcotic and is thought to have less addictive properties and fewer GI side effects than opioids. 1/3 patients do experience some nausea.
Oxycodone or Hydromorphone narcotic medications that are very powerful pain relievers. The do have addictive properties, both physically and mentally. They work very well for post-surgical pain, but the goal is to wean these medications to limit their side effects. They are strongly associated with constipation, urinary retention, and diminished reaction time.
Post Joint Replacement Surgery: Alternatives To Narcotics For Pain Relief
Pain relief forknee replacement surgery and other joint surgeries has been a hot-button topicover the past decade. With an epidemic of nearly 450,000 opioidoverdoses in America since 1999, physicians have been more mindful of therisks of narcotic prescription drugs and more dedicated to educating patientson alternative methods of pain relief.
Orthopedicsurgeons perform these procedures to help people who are in end-stagearthritis and living in chronic pain. As with any surgery, some discomfort andpain can be expected after a hip or knee replacement.
There is arange of pain management resources available for patients who have had surgery.From prescriptions to over-the-counter medications to drug-free alternatives,there are safe and effective options for all patients. Let’s explain thedifferent kinds of post-surgery pain relief in the following list.
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