Total Knee Replacement (TKR)

[buzzkillwill]

I'm getting a total knee replacement (left knee) soon. It was scheduled for late October, but I'm pushing it back until after the holidays.

So, my questions are:
Has any other member(s) had a total knee replacement(s).
If so, which type?
Did you get full ROM back? My ROM is 30* (extension) to 97* (flexion). Not sure I'll get back to 0/120...
Are you still doing lower body weight training; squats, DL's, GM's, ect...
Are you doing any type of MMA-style training besides rolling?
(I can't imagine having a knee replaced and then getting down in someone's guard on a regular basis...)
I know, ask the doctor these questions. I have. I've seen 3 different doctors, but honestly, I don't think they have a true understanding of things beyond the surgery.
I feel most doctors are expecting TKR patients to be older and more sedetary. So they don't have a good idea of what level of activity you can have after fully healed.
A good PT should have answers too and I have a friend who's a PT that specializes in orthopedics (sp), but he won't tell me much.

 

[miaou]

I can't help you with any personal experience, but I would be interested in hearing more details about you. You are obviously young/active. How old are you, what is your training history like, what kind of injuries have you suffered in the past, what is your current condition like and have you exhausted any and all other possibilities before resorting to TKR?

 

[buzzkillwill]

I'm 41. I injured it when I was 20 years old. Took a bad fall and dislocated my knee cap, ruptured my ACL, tore miniscus and spraing/tore other ligaments in the knee.
Had surgery to remove the torn minuscus, reset the knee cap, but they chose not to do an ACL reconstruction at the time. Since that time I've had nine more knee surgeries. One for the reconstruction, and the rest to clean out debris and cartliage. I haven't had any cartliage in my L knee in almost 10 years.
Training: I don't do any MMA training. I tired it once, and I mean once, about 3 years ago. Just couldn't do it.
I lift weights, and although I'm not as serious as some here, I enjoy going and had worked up to decent numbers. And up to about 3 years ago, I did squats regularly. But over the last 6 or 7 years, I've had to switch to Smith Machine. Not the best, but with my decresed ROM and tracking issue, it was the only viable option. I still do d'bell squats, leg presses (not very often), box (bench) jumps, straigh leg DL's for legs.
Up until a few years ago, I played basketball, flag football and softball.

As far as exhausting all means. I have. The issue isn't pain management, it's quality of life. My ROM is 30* That's as straight as my leg will go. It's not due to soft tissue issues, it's just to osteophytes(sp) and bone growth that is literally keeping me from straightening my leg. Plus, I had ACL reconstruction using the patella tendon graft, which causes a person's stride to shorten over time.

 

[miaou]

Good luck dude. You will obviously benefit from doing as much strength training as possible prior to the surgery and finding in advance the best physiotherapist/chiropractor possible to work with for the rehab.

 

[JRT6]

You can do a lot but everything you do weight bearing lowers the life of the knee and you can only get two knee replacements in a lifetime. You can safely say squating (running , basketball, etc) is out. BJJ may be ok if you avoid the standing stuff and regain measurable ROM. Shoulders and hips are pretty good replacements as far returning to athletics. Knees and elbows not so much but it's getting better.

 

[VoodooPlata]

I feel for you, man. If you regain full ROM in the knee there are some pretty heavy duty knee wraps out there - I mean with the braces and padding and the whole shebang. My previous BJJ coach had a truly fucked knee, but he could roll with one of those. Look into it.

 

[wildman1717]

Good luck with everything, let us know how it goes.