Help With Medications And Wound Care
Its important that the person takes all medications as their healthcare team prescribes. You may need to help gather the medications, make sure they take them on schedule, and monitor and renew prescriptions from the pharmacy.
You may find it helpful to use a daily medication dispenser. These can be purchased at your local pharmacy or online.
If possible, meet with the persons doctor before outpatient care begins. They can go over what medications they need and answer any questions you may have.
Youll also need to monitor the wound for swelling and inflammation. This may involve changing dressings and picking up medical supplies, like bandages, as needed. If the wound is getting redder, more swollen, begins draining, or has a odor, seek medical care. Wash you hands carefully before and after touching bandages.
Try to establish a routine where you dispense medications and do wound checks at the same times each day.
How Will I Feel The First Few Days Back From Joint Replacement Surgery
No matter how much you prepared for your homecoming, it will be an adjustment. You will likely experience anxiety and question whether you were discharged too early. This is a normal feeling, so relax and focus on your recovery.
Depending on your surgeon’s policy, you may get a call from a care coordinator. This is your opportunity to report any problems and ask any questions. You may also get a visit from the physical therapist or occupational therapist within 48 hours of discharge. Your provider will let you know what to expect and the timelines involved.
Preparation Before Surgery Is Just As Vital To Healing As What You Do Afterward
A little preparation can go a long way. At HSS, we take many steps before and after surgery to help our patients heal faster. For example, we offer specialized programs to help people lose weight and quit smoking before surgery, since research has shown those measures can help speed recovery. Our pre-habilitation program gives patients a chance to build strength in certain muscles around the knee prior to surgery. We also provide very personalized support for patients with sleep apnea, and other conditions that could have an effect on recovery.
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Best Shoes To Wear After Knee Surgery In : Reviews & Buying Guide
- Slip-on Design: Slip on design with Elastic Cuff is convenient for user to put on and take off
- Lightweight: This walking shoes have durable knit upper with good stretch allows the foot to fit perfect, smooth fabric provide great freedom and comfortable
- Wide Round Toe for All Day Standing: Super lightweight and flexible just like socks, smooth fabric make all your toes comfortable like wearing nothing
- Great Traction & Shockproof Sole: STQ Thick sole with air cushion helps absorb shock to cushion every stride, and utilizes a rebound sole designed to provide an efficient push-off
- OCCASION: Fits for long time standing work, walking, casual, floor shoes, plantar fasciitis, nursing, fishing, dress, shopping, travel, driving, jazz, tap dance, street jazz, ballet, athletic and workout
- Prevents stress, strain and shock that can cause knee pain
- Helps protect knee cartilage and meniscus from shock and stress
- All day pain relief
- Designed to relieve pain: general knee pain, pain from osteoarthritis and Runner’s knee
- Take more steps With less pain. Dr. Scholl’s shock Guard reduces impact as you move, absorbs pain-inducing shock and helps transition weight and distribute pressure.
What Are The Most Effective Shoes To Wear After Knee Surgerys
Since your company probably deals with a variety of items, you’ll need a device that can adapt to different sizes, weights, heights, etc. It may be smaller and cheaper, but it has high quality despite its size and cost.
Different shoes to wear after knee surgerys are available in the market today for accomplishing common office tasks.
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Phase : 6+ Weeks After Meniscus Surgery Return To Normal Activities
At or around 6 weeks after surgery, you will likely have a follow up with your surgeon. At this point, they will likely clear you for all activity and you wont have to see them again. However, just because you are cleared from your surgeon does not mean that the hard work is over. It still can take months for the strength to come back to prior levels before surgery. Until that time, you are at an increased risk for injury due to the limitations in strength. A few tips as your get back to normal:
- As you return to running start slow and progress 10-15% each week to avoid injury
- Dont start running or jumping until you can hold a single leg squat for 30 seconds
- Warm up properly before returning to any sporting activity
- Continue to strengthen the leg, it is one the thing that has been shown to decrease injury risk
Knee Replacement Recovery Exercises
Although you will be advised on specific exercises that you can do by your physical therapist, the exercises that you should focus on the most, particularly in the early recovery period, are exercises that work on range of motion, degree of bend in the knee as well as developing strength in the quadriceps muscles. As soon as you feel you are able to get onto a stationary or recumbent bike, you should do so. This is an excellent exercise as it is very low impact, but works on range of motion and strength, and the knee and can be aided by the contralateral side.
Working on range of motion and strength can be achieved by dangling your leg over the side of a chair or bed and extending the knee so that the leg is fully outstretched and holding it against gravity for several seconds before then allowing gravity to bend the knee again. This is a very simple exercise, but also very effective and can be done anywhere with relative ease and does not require any special equipment.
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Exercise And Getting Around
Your physical therapist will encourage you to begin walking as soon as possible. At first, you will use an assistive device, but it is best to use this only as long as you need it. Walking without a device will help you regain strength in your knee.
Working with the physical therapist for those first weeks is important as it will allow the therapist to detect any knee problems.
You can start walking farther and begin to engage in other activities after about 12 weeks.
Swimming and other types of water exercise are good options, as these low-impact activities are easy on your knee. Make sure your wound has completely healed before entering a pool.
Avoid placing weights on your leg and doing leg lifts on weight machines for the first few months, until you get the go-ahead from your physical therapist or doctor.
Your new knee will make it much easier to engage in a diverse array of activities. However, its important not to put too much stress on the joint.
The AAOS recommends the following activities:
- walking
Exercise For A Swollen Knee After Knee Surgery
Mild exercise after knee replacement is important to avoid swelling, fluid retention and accelerate the recovery from surgery. The question is, what exercises are best after knee surgery? After surgery, avoid weight lifting and high-intensity exercise.
The following are some mild exercises you can do at home after knee surgery:
- Ankle Pumps
- Standing Knee Bending
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No 5 Post Surgery Pillow For Leg Elevation
Weve already mentioned the I and C of the acronym RICE in ice and compression. Lets take a look at the E elevation.
For elevation youll have a few options. The easiest option is to stack a few pillows from your bed and place your leg on top. This is effective but consider a few things.
Leg pillows for post-surgery are a common item purchased after knee replacement surgery. They are long enough for the whole leg, provide adequate cushion but more support than a traditional pillow, and best of all they are relatively inexpensive.
If you want to read more, I found the best wedge pillow for after knee replacement and wrote about it.
Months To 1 Year After Surgery
- Most of your pain should be gone 1 year after surgery. However, you may still have some swelling in your lower leg and foot, and discomfort going up and down stairs or sitting in one position for too long. It is important to be physically active and maintain a healthy weight for the best recovery.
- You may resume playing low-intensity activities such as volleyball or softball. Do not do high-intensity activities such as soccer, tennis or basketball.
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Think That Walking And Moving Around Is The Major Achievement
Patients mistakenly think that walking is a major achievement after surgery and that walking without a walker is even better. Other healthcare professionals can misguidedly feed into that misconception making the problem even worse. The truth is that getting up and moving around after surgery is encouraged but for the first two weeks you should be protecting the joint from full weight bearing forces by using the walker. This allows you to carry a percentage of your body weight through your arms instead of on your surgical knee.
During your knee replacement surgery, the ends of your long bones have been cut and a prothesis placed over the top. Bone that has been cut can be very painful, just ask someone who has had a small piece of bone taken from their iliac crest for use in a back surgery. That bone removal site can ache for months.
If you walk around without any protection for your new knee you will likely inflame and aggravate the bones. This can cause a person to have a real problem controlling their pain. All things considered you dont want to be dealing with more pain than is already associated with the post surgical period. So use your walker.this means actually putting weight through your arms. A 4 wheeled walker is a horrible choice for this. Get the regular 2 wheeled walker and slow down a bit. Your knee will thank you and your recovery will go much faster.
How Do I Manage Pain And Discomfort After Joint Replacement Surgery
Try to take your pain medication as soon as you begin to feel pain. Don’t wait until the pain becomes severe. Follow the instructions on the prescription label. Remember to take your pain medication before activity and bedtime.
If you need to have stitches or staples removed and you’re still taking pain medications, be sure to have a friend or family member drive you to your appointment.
Pain medication may cause nausea. If this happens, decrease the amount you are taking or stop and contact your surgeons office.
If you need additional pain medication, please contact your surgeons office. Give at least a few days advance notice before you run out of the medication. Please plan ahead, especially for holiday weekends.
Also remember:
- You aren’t permitted to drive a car while taking narcotic pain medication.
- It may take several days to have a bowel movement. Anesthesia and pain medication often cause constipation. Drink plenty of fluids and eat whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. A stool softener or laxative can help bowel function return to normal.
- Don’t hesitate to call your surgeons office with any questions or concerns.
Incision care
Walker, crutches, cane
Use your assistive devices for balance as instructed by your surgeon or therapist. By your first post-op visit with your surgeon, you may have already improved and changed from using a walker or crutches to a cane .
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No 11 Stationary Bike
A stationary bike inside your house might a great addition to your recovery program. If you live in an area of the country with extreme temperatures exercising indoors is the best recovery option.
A stationary bike takes will be part of your physical therapy recovery so its a must-have item. It takes up little space and can be placed in front of the television so you can have your workout while watching the big game.
I always kept my stationary bike in the garage and it helped me exercise before I had knee surgery.
Biking is a low-impact way to strengthen and exercise the leg muscles. You wont be using it in the few weeks after surgery, however, youll be feeling better after a month or two and cycling is a great activity for your health.
When Can A Patient Return To Work
This is a common question after knee replacement surgery and entirely depends on the nature of work the patient performs as part of their occupation. For those patients who work in jobs that are relatively sedentary such as office work, returning to work after 2 to 3 weeks is perfectly reasonable however, for patients whose work demands more of them physically, e.g., fireman, police officer, these patients are usually recommended to wait at least 6 weeks before returning to work.
This is because muscle recovery is usually sufficient by 6 weeks to allow for the normal duties of these more physically demanding occupations at this point in time. However, it is also a case that even for the more physically demanding occupations, if a modification of these duties is available to the patients for the postoperative recovery period then this would potentially allow for an early return to work.
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Recovery From Acl Surgery
After anterior cruciate ligament surgery, move your ankles up and down an average of 10 times every 10 minutes. Continue this exercise for two to three days to help blood circulation and to prevent blood clots from forming in your legs. If you develop acute pain in the back of your calf, tell your doctor. This could be an early sign of clots.
Why Is My Knee So Tight After Surgery
Arthrofibrosis, also known as stiff knee syndrome, occurs when excessive scar tissue forms around a joint, limiting range of motion and causing pain and disability. It can be a complication of knee replacement or anterior cruciate ligament surgery, with infections and bleeding as known contributing factors.
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Do Not Ditch The Walker Or Cane Too Soon
It may be tempting to get rid of the walker so that you can use a cane instead. But it is important to use a walker until you can comfortably walk with a cane after knee surgery because you want to avoid increased pain or strain to your knees, hips, and back. If you still have any sort of limp, lean, or pain in your knee or hip, you must continue to use an assistive device like a walker or cane until you correct these movement patterns.
What Not To Do After A Knee Replacement
As previously mentioned, removing the dressings too early or before you are instructed to do so by your healthcare provider will increase the risk of developing an infection. This is important to avoid and as such leaving your dressings and following the postoperative care instructions that you are given is essential.
Trying to do too much too quickly is a common scenario particularly in younger patients. Recovery from the knee replacement is a slow process and many patients want to be back to a baseline level of activity within a few weeks of the surgery. This is simply not possible and we would encourage you to be patient and consistent with your exercises and rehabilitation protocols. Regular communication with your surgeon or healthcare provider if you have any concerns will be able to reassure you of your progress through the process of recovering.
Avoid trying to enter into sporting activity too quickly. Although it does frustrate patients when find they are unable to perform their sports as quickly as they want after the surgery, it can also put you at risk of developing an injury around tissues that are still in the process of healing. This can cause problematic injuries such as disruptions to your extensor mechanism of your knee and even periprosthetic fractures. These are major injuries that usually require surgical intervention and should be avoided at all costs.
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Different Types Of Surgery
There are 5 main types of knee replacement surgery:
- Total knee replacement. This is the most common form. Your surgeon replaces the surfaces of the thigh bone and shin bone that connects to the knee.
- Partial knee replacement. If arthritis affects only one side of your knee, this surgery may be a possibility. However, itâs only right for you if you have strong knee ligaments and the rest of the cartilage in the knee is normal. Partial knee replacement can be performed through a smaller cut than is needed for total knee replacement.
- Patellofemoral replacement. This replaces only the under-surface of the kneecap and the groove the kneecap sits in. This can be very effective for people with chronic kneecap arthritis.
- Complex knee replacement. This procedure may be needed if you have very severe arthritis or if youâve already had two or three knee replacement surgeries.
- Cartilage restoration: Sometimes when the knee only has an isolated area of injury or wear this area can be replaced with a living cartilage graft or cells which grow into cartilage.