Total Knee Replacements

[Feral Nature]

I am going to go forward with bilaterally knee replacements. I have been in pain for about 12 years or so and the doctor has recommended the replacement surgery as he called it "end stage knee with bone on bone". I did a search on here and can't find any threads on the subject so decided to start one. If there is a thread, please give the link.

I would like to hear from folks who have had their knees replaced and how long it was before they were back on the trail and how it affected their hiking. I understand that it takes a lot of PT and hard work. Thanks!

[moytoy]

I really can't speak to all your questions but I will share what I know. My brother had bilateral knee replacement 2 years ago. He is now 59 so that puts him in about the same age as you when he had his done. He's a school teacher and a basketball coach. He had his operation when school finished in the spring and was ready to start school in the fall. He is not a hiker but he does run up and down the basketball court and stands in class all day. The two months of rehab was all he needed to get started in school again and was already walking and standing with no pain. He had been dealing with pain for 30 years and he now has none. If ask if he would go through it again he responds with a resounding yes!

[Wil]

folks who have had their knees replaced and how long it was before they were back on the trail and how it affected their hiking. I understand that it takes a lot of PT and hard work.

The Naturalist/Ranger at Grand Canyon's Phantom Ranch for many years had, I believe, both knees replaced. I saw her hiking all over the place. I think she said about two months for enough rehab to start serious hiking again.

Pam was still hiking strong when she left the GC to ranger at Carlsbad. As a matter of fact she hiked out to the Rim right after giving her last presentation. Said continual Canyon hiking had become a little too strenuous for her after all those years, but it was her back, and not the bionic knees, that did her in.

[Feral Nature]

moytoy and wil, thanks for responding.

Having been a surgical nurse and having seen a hip replacement in all it's gory, I have been putting off having my knees done until now. I absolutely am so tired of the pain. I see stars whenever I get up from a sitting position and the pain has just become my norm. I am finally ready and have embraced the whole idea and am now willing to have it done

I will continue to go forward with my plans for a 2013 thru and hopefully, I will be healed up enough. I can be can be a beast when it comes to working out in the gym, I was a bodybuilding model back in the day, after 4 children by c-section, so I know what it takes to make gains.

I have done my homework on the knee replacement surgery and am actually becoming eager and look forward to my appointment with my ortho this Friday.

I am a bionic-wannabe.

[moytoy]

I remember my brother talking about waking up from his surgery. He was on his back but in a bicycle type machine with his legs being rotated. I think they had him walking the first day. Good Luck and hears to a quick recovery!

[partly cloudy]

Texas Phlox I had a total knee replacement about 2 years ago. Left knee shot. They had me on a nerve blocker so I had NO PAIN after the surgery. Up and walking the next day. Even when they took out the nerve blocker, the only pain I had was from stretching the skin for surgery. This felt like a serious sunburn. Word of advice, when they tell you to bend your knee as far as you can, do it. Go beyond that pain. This breaks up the scar tissue that forms from re-attaching the tendons. If you don't do this, you'll have to go back in for a "manipulation". They put you under and force the knee to bend. ( snap, crackle and pop ) I have 120 degrees bend. ( 110 is acceptable and 130 is exceptional ) 2 months of PT. Used a cane to leave the hospital after 3 days. Cane disappeared after a week. You will not be able to kneel on that knee unless you have cushion under it. I know a 70 year old gent that blew out his knee on the AT in New Hampshire. Had the total replacement and finished the AT ( NOBO ) the following year. The docs don't like to do a replacement for someone as young as you because the replacement usually last 20 years. I told them that by then, they'll have new technology and it won't be a problem. The doc agreed. Be very religious on the PT. this is the only way you'll do your intended 2013 thru. Get an elipical bike for home use, USE IT. Good luck on your surgery. Any more questions, feel free to write.

[max patch]

There have threads on this before and almost everyone reports great success.

However...my father needed 2 knee replacements. He had the first one done and was one of 1 in 100 who experienced serious side effects. He is worse off now than before the surgury. His hiking days are over. He will not have the other knee done.

And seeing what he is going thru I will not do it either if that day comes for me.

Good luck.

[Kathleen Demers]

Thanks for sharing.

[Feral Nature]

Thank you to all who have posted.

I cannot kneel now so do not mind putting something soft under my knees to do so. I have watched videos and read blogs and so forth and feel I have a little bit of a handle on what to expect. And having endured unimaginable pain when my general anesthesia wore off during my first c-section leaving me paralyzed by one of the drugs so I was not able to signal with a flutter of the eyelash or move a finger to tell the doctors I was awake as they proceeded with the surgery. It is known as "surgical awareness". I have been diagnosed with PTSD from that event and I will never be the same. So I do understand pain. I actually took care of a few knee replacement patients when I worked as an RN. We used the mechanical device that bent the knee automatically to keep it functioning. I intend to go through with the knee replacements and work very hard with PT. I am looking forward to being in less chronic pain. I am actually excited about my appointment Friday with the ortho. I will ask him about an extended hike, everything I have read says hiking is fine, just no jogging or power-lifting or singles tennis. I am already so careful with my knees when walking, that I would be careful with my new knees as well. Just so tired of not living my life because of the pain. I was going to go ahead with the AT and just grin and bear it, but I think I will go forward with the knee replacements. I don't want to begin the hike with a reason already in place to take me off the trail. I am still planning the 2013 thruhike, come hell or high water but also have the freedom to hike it in 2014 if need be. I consider myself to be tough, having worked as a rancher for much of my life, blood, sweat and tears, i know how to push myself. I am not delicate and have out worked men on many occasions. I can do this.

[The Solemates]

Texas Phlox The docs don't like to do a replacement for someone as young as you because the replacement usually last 20 years.

not ours
..........

[Hammock Hanger]

Great post. Lots of good info and comments. Here is my 2 cents:

Last year I had double knee surgery, 5 months apart. I got off the drugs ASAP ( a personal decision). I did everything the dr and the PT people told me to do. I was doing good day hikes on the first knee within 3 months. I hiked 500 miles across Spain on the second knee which was only 5 months old. The key words here are "I was hiking". For the past 4 years hiking had been a very pain and sometimes impossible past time.

In short, going forward with the surgeries was the best possible move I could have made in leading a proactive life. Is it painful, at times in the beginning, but if you are at bone on bone you are getting use to pain.

Go for it and good luck.

Sue/Hammock Hanger

[Spirit Walker]

Different kinds of knees have very different post-surgical recovery periods. My husband had a TKR that was not glued. The doctor wanted the bone to graft to his titanium knee. The first month he was non-weight bearing - using a walker and not leaving the house. A PT came to the house for the first month, and then he went to a therapist for another two months or so. He gradually built up his walking by going out every single day.

At the six month mark, we were back to backpacking, and in fact, went out to the PCT to attempt a thruhike. We lasted about 4 weeks - 304 miles, before the meniscus on his other knee tore and we had to get off the trail to get surgery for it. On that hike, he was in a fair amount of pain, but we were able to do 20 mile days. However, that was our last serious hiking. We went back the next year to resume our hike, and Jim was in pain all the time. We managed to do 279 miles, but by the end, his knee was so swollen he couldn't walk. They drained it twice - over a quart of fluid - and he had surgery to remove scar tissue, but he still couldn't hike. Two years later, his knee still hurts if he does any real climbing or any distance. Our long distance days seem to be over.

His ortho was all in favor of Jim continuing his long distance hiking. He himself was an athlete, so understood the mindset. A couple of other doctors that we've consulted were much more negative about doing the kind of activity that we love to do. Jim wouldn't have listened to them in any case, but I sometimes wonder whether Jim would be in the kind of constant pain he has now if we'd been more conservative at the beginning.

[Kerosene]

I met a guy at Wayah Shelter last May (9stones?) who was re-attempting a thru-hike after getting off the prior year. He had started SOBO from Katahdin about a year after his dual knee replacements and determined he wasn't ready while standing atop one of the slick rocky summits in Maine. He ended up doing another year of PT, focusing on lateral movement I believe, and fealt that he was finally ready. He was in good shape, and said that he had done his PT work the first time, so I'm not sure why he felt he wasn't prepared.

[Nitrojoe]

I had my right knee replaced in March 30 2011. The first two months are painfull trying to recover from the surgery. You must follow your surgery with a PT and do what they tell you to do with the exercises so that you can get near total knee movement. At month four after my knee replacement I was on the trail doing limited mileage. Month five I did a 18 mile hike up halfdome and my knee held up great. In April of 2012 I started my thru hike on the AT, but I had to abort after a bad fall six miles from Damacus,VA. I will continue the AT in 2013.

[Feral Nature]

Thanks for all the good posts. I have been reading everything I can about TKR, the surgery, the PT and recovery. I found a very good thread on a health forum with some 500 posts...

http://www.healthboards.com/boards/k...sh-i-knew.html

I am encouraged by those who have continued hiking after surgery. I have a long list of questions written out that I am taking to the ortho's office on Friday.

[Feral Nature]

I just came across this:

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/06/2...rs-volunteers/

[Louise Morrow]

Good point

[redworm]

Was wondering when you all began experiencing knee problems and the type of pain that it was in the beginning. I am 31/m whose family has a history of knee problems, I have been actively hiking for the past four years (weekend warrior), and only in the past three weeks have my knees started to feel like they are giving out. I'm not in pain but they feel weak, or a dull pain. Some times when I walk I feel a popping sensation...does anybody have any similar experiences?