Replacement Knee's

[mtnbiker208]

A couple of years ago, my doctor told me that I would need replacement knees in about 5 years.

That took me by surprise, even though I have had multiple acl replacements, three acl surgeries on one knee and another surgery on my other knee. I have had eight procedures all together all over my body and I do not remember all the particulars of each surgery. With that said, I am only 55 and was wondering what other people’s experience has been with replacement knees. Can you still get around the mountains well? I am extremely active and I did and still do chase adrenaline hard. What I am going thru with my knees, besides they hurt is, Going downhill sucks. The doctor told me that would be my issue. The doc and I go way back and he knows what I have done, and what I do doo.

So what have you folks experienced with new knees?
I would like to finish my grand slam, I just need the Desert sheep. I did take one heck of a downhill fall this fall and I guess that woke me up.

Do Folks get both done at once, or one at a time. Before my cortizone injections this fall, i did have an mri done on my left kneee. The doc said, he can't fix it, just replace it. There was like 6 different things, the mri showed. I guess my life of CHARGE is slowly catching up to me.

Pics to show my adrenaline addiction.



Thanks

Tim

 

[ReaptheHeat]

Knees are the easiest lower body joint replacement...You'll be good to go. Better than before but not your youthful 100% knees.

 

[Fatcamp]

Have several coworkers who have had them done. One is a guy who is very active, not like you, but busy. He reports it being a night and day difference.

I work in surgery. We do quite a few and the team that does them never seems very excited so it must go pretty smooth for them.

 

[jimh406]

Ouch, the only complication that I've heard about is getting addicted to the pain killers, so keep that in mind.

 

[BBob]

I have several friends that have done very well with new knees one with both done. All of their lives are better now. Hip replacements are getting crazy quick and easy with really fast recoveries. If you want to see something cool look up the Hana surgical tables used in hip surgeries. They’ve changed the game.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I had my left knee and right hip replace 8 months apart, first one was in Feb of 2022, Walk in the park. I had very little pain from either surgery, I never took one pain pill. It's a little hard getting around for about a week, then I got rid of walker and just used cane. I would say I was pretty much back to myself after eight weeks. The surgeon told me I have a high tolerance to pain, maybe, maybe not. Get an ice therapy mach. My wife got one for me, and what little pain I had was relieved with the use of them mach.. You'll be out and about in the hills just like the old days. Make sure you do your physical therapy at lest three times a day. The therapist will give you a schedule and exercise to do. You don't want your joints stiffen up. Go get it done and get on with life. I am now 75 years old.

 

[Bubblehide]

I have 2 full knee replacements. I was exceptionally active and simply wore them out. I did one at a time, and began falling just prior to each surgery. My knees are much better than they were prior to the surgeries. However, they are not what I want them to be. I cannot go nearly as far as I want to. They hurt daily, and when I actively hike, they begin to swell, and hurt more. I am significantly slower. But, I can still get out there.

With that said, I seriously doubt I was a typical replacement patient. What I mean is that I had several medical issues back to back. It started with a diagnosis of polysethimia. My doctors thought I had polysethimia vera, leukemia, typically terminal in 3 to 6 months. I changed providers and got immediate treatment for other possibilities, which treated my issue. I likely had a very bad case of sepsis, as I couldn't keep a thought process going for more than 1 minute. I then did 5 surgeries one after the other with weeks seperating the surgeries. My point here is I was in a significantly weakened state from all the medical issues. My recovery has been slow.

You want to go into knee replacement surgery, strong and in shape, not like I did (I didn't have a choice), so that you are much more likely to have a better outcome. If I were you, I'd limit activities that are high impact on the knees, and change to low impact, like a stationary bike, so you can plan and complete your surgeries without a negative impact from your knees, such as I experienced.

Set yourself up with an iceing machine. What I mean is a mini ice chest with a pump, hoses and a cooling pad that can cover the knee. After surgery, while in the hospital and at home after, you will need to cool the knees. A side effect of surgery is heat, so your knees will heat, and swell. Keeping the heat down helps with keeping the swelling down and speeds recovery.

I doubt you will have an experience like mine, so your outcome should be better than mine. But after surgery, iceing/cooling is super important.

Best wishes!

 

[Wheels]

I had a knee replacement almost 20 years ago, I’m 58 now. Best advice I can give is do all of the physical therapy that they offer/ tell you to do and you’ll be good to go. I was at 100% in 5 weeks after surgery, but I was very young to have a replacement. There have been great advancements since I had mine done so recovery time may be less now.
Only negative I can offer is I know when the weather is changing, it gets really stiff before a weather change.

 

[Fatcamp]

I have several friends that have done very well with new knees one with both done. All of their lives are better now. Hip replacements are getting crazy quick and easy with really fast recoveries. If you want to see something cool look up the Hana surgical tables used in hip surgeries. They’ve changed the game.

Ya, watching a Hana table in use is pretty unreal.

 

[doc holiday13]

If both need to be done, my opinion would be to have both done at the same time.. Rehab will go from 6-8 months to 18ish months.. thats 2 hunting seasons right there. 6-8 months can get you out of rehab and strong enough to hit the mountains at a gingerly pace

 

[Backyard]

Im going on 4 years with mine. Almost 100%. Best advice to you is strengthen your hips and legs as much as possible prior to surgery, do all your PT religiously and more even after your PT says you’re done. And definitely have the surgery robotically done. I still hunt elk and motorcycle ride thousands of miles each year with no problems.

I’ll add that there is no way you will be anywhere near recovered at 5 months. You can expect it to be more like 1 year. It’s not just a muscle tear. Bone is getting cut off and muscles are getting rerouted around instead of through the knee.
Good luck.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fullfan]

Had to have to have a knee replaced in 17. Not because mine was worn out, vehicle accident destroyed my right leg so bad, if I was ever going to walk again I needed my knee replaced.

Surgery was done on 05/01, of 05/14 I killed a spring gobbler. In Sept of the same year I was in Idaho chasing bugling bulls.

It was not that bad. PT is a must, and you have to keep moving….

 

[elkivory]

I'm 78 and had one in December 2018 and one in April 2019. Definitely not as good as my original knees, but no more pain. I can still downhill ski, hike pretty much as I choose and do everything I want to. I still have trouble kneeling, I think mostly mental due to feeling weird.
Mine are TKR ( total knee replacement). Most painful thing I've gone through, but worth it. I also recommend doing all rehab and be very careful with pain pills. I am lucky to have a wife and nurse daughter that helped keep me from taking pain pills.

 

[ZDR]

Here’s a couple of potential alternatives to a full knee replacement:

An Alternative to Knee Replacement: The BioKnee

The BioKnee®: Dr. Stone's groundbreaking alternative to knee replacement. Our program enables hundreds of arthritic patients to stay active and avoid the need for total knee replacement.

www.stoneclinic.com

Robotic Joint Center | World-Class Partial & Total Knee Replacement

We are at the forefront of knee replacement surgery, using robotic technology to drive better outcomes & return our patients to full sports.

www.stoneclinic.com

 

[Bubblehide]

If both need to be done, my opinion would be to have both done at the same time.. Rehab will go from 6-8 months to 18ish months.. thats 2 hunting seasons right there. 6-8 months can get you out of rehab and strong enough to hit the mountains at a gingerly pace

Doing both at the same time is associated with results that are not as good as doing 1 at a time. With doing one at a time robotically, the patient is generally released the day after surgery and can walk limited distances (via a nerve block). Thus the patient is not totally dependent on others. If both are done at the same time, walking is often not possible for a few days and the hospital stay is longer. Doing 1 at a time provides the stability of having 1 good functional leg, as reduces the risk of falling and subsequent injury.

I get the desire to do both at the same time, even I asked about the option. But after going through this, I get the why not of both at the same time.

 

[Maki35]

A co- worker had one knee replacement done( needs both). He said its pretty good with today’s technology. He said dr’s had him doing p/t right away. He was up and walking in no time. P/t was a little rough (painful) at first, but you have to do it.
He’s scheduled to do the other one soon.

 

[5MilesBack]

About 10 years ago an old guy in our church had both knees done at the same time. He didn't take any pain pills, and was back in church less than a month later with a cane. He's 93 now and still going. Tough old guy.

My mom had both hers done separately at about 80. She did fine. But her hip replacement was much easier.

I hunted with a guy this year that had one knee done a year or two ago. I was amazed how well he did. I never would have guessed that he had a replacement knee. He's 61.

 

[keller]

Had 1 full replacement done 4 weeks ago it is going very well!! Not sure i would do doth at same time but it is doable I have been told

 

[roosterdown]

I'll chime in...I had one done (full knee; kept my ACL) at 55 (19 months ago). Before surgery it had gotten to the point that I could not bike nor could I even swim. Found a good doctor I trusted - all went well and I did a big trip 10 weeks after surgery. I was not 100%, but was soon thereafter.

Took a year to be comfortable kneeling, and it does feel weird. But not painful. New knee is larger than the OEM.

Also, range of motion - was told I quickly got to the top percentile, however it will never bend as far as it used to, and it hurts like hell if I test the limits. My good leg I can touch my heel to my butt. Replaced knee is fine to 12" away. At 11" away I am crying like a baby.

I played competitive sports way too long (retired at 37) and just wore the damn things out. But I have remained fit and followed advice to "pre-hab": I worked hard ahead of surgery and recovery times were comparatively quick.

I tell friends that I no longer have those sharp, stabbing pain episodes that come from bone-on-bone contact, and because that's gone I can once again climb mountains & hike all day. It's quite strong. However I have regular low-level pain as a tradeoff. It also gets stiff & painful if in the same position too long.

No regrets - I'm back out there and loving that fact.

All that said, remember that it is a major surgery, you will be in serious pain for a couplethree weeks...take the drugs. Tried without too soon and boy howdy that was an unforced error.

Good luck.

 

[Charlie Brown]

Some good advice on here. Better shape your in to start with the better rehab will be. Had mine replaced at 67. Bone on bone and full of arthritis. Had it replaced in November 2023 and was elk hunting the following September. I had a great PT he understood the goal was to hunt in the mountains,the exercises he gave me I did 3 times a day. As for painkillers I took the 1st couple days then Tylenol and ibuprofen. Used ice a lot. Surgery was on a Monday rehab started Wednesday. I was stubborn and refused to spend the night in hospital the therapist had me test out before I could leave. Bend the knee,walk with walker,climb a set of 3 stairs and come back down and last sit on the toilet and stand back up without help. Knee has held up great hunting, face planted a couple times and knee survived. I find myself still being cautious but it hasn't stopped me from doing anything.