As it’s now 6 months since my surgery for a partial, lateral knee replacement, it’s time for the final update. See here for the previous update at 12 weeks. Read on to see how the recovery has been going:
- The knee is still swelling, however, I don’t believe it is related to the surgery, I think the cause is different; I have patella pain on both knees and both knees have similar swelling. I am addressing this with specific exercises for patella pain and am trying out different knee braces. Drop a comment below if you are interested to learn which ones.
- Patella aside, there is no pain in the knee joint now and I am not taking any regular meds.
- As for regaining full range of motion, it gets better all the time. I contracted a nasty virus in December and couldn’t exercise for a few weeks. When I returned to my exercises, the range had improved considerably. I think the time off helped, or maybe it was just the passing of time.
- The scar is still pretty red and it appears it may be a keloid scar. I’m not bothered by the appearance, and it’s not too raised, but it does feel tight around the scar when I bend the knee, although this could be due to the swelling.
- For painkillers, I am only taking ibuprofen occasionally for its anti-inflammatory effects, and only when I am out all day or expect to be doing a lot of walking or moving.
- Sleep is pretty much back to normal. Turning over in bed is much easier now that I can take weight on the knee. Sometimes, if I stay in the same position for too long, the knee feels a bit heavy and uncomfortable, but this is reducing as time goes on.
- My mobility is also near normal. I don’t need a walking stick outside but will take one just for confidence if I’m going somewhere new. I can walk up and downstairs normally although the patella pain makes it challenging at times.
Overall, I’m happy with how things turned out, but I am determined not to have more surgery, so I am now heavily focused on movement and exercise. Leave a comment if you’d like to know more about what I am doing. Thanks for taking time to read about my journey.