Knee Replacement ?

[Tackle]

As the title says, I'm getting one in 13 days, my non dominant left knee, not that it matters, the right one is royally Fooked too?. 

My question to the rest of the forum is have any of you guys had a total knee replacement, & if so how long did it take you to get back on the playing field, any issues ?. 

I'm realistically expecting to be  good for nothing much for 2-3 months, but being the determined old git I am, I'm hoping I can meander round a flat site soon after that ? ?

Be good to hear anybody else's experiences following similar ops. 

Cheers guys 

Mark 

 

[RostokMcSpoons]

I think I might be heading in the same direction in the near future... already diagnosed as arthritic L=Moderate, R=Severe.   I play footy twice a week, and they'd been alright for a while, but recently the right knee is making crackling noises like a ball of cellophane being scrunched up, and every now and again feels like it's all trying to pop out of place, or just disintegrate like a wet sugar lump.  Fun days!  Is that anything like what you had? 

Anyway, best of luck, and I'll be keeping tabs on your progress...

 

[Tackle]

I'm bone on bone on both knees, clean out & repair surgery twice on the right in '95 & '15, once on the left in '20 (I think ?, last couple of years have been a weird blur?), years of rugby/ice hockey/boxing in my youth, never mind the relentless tabs in full kit & bergans were always gonna take a heavy toll, I'm only 54 ffs so I've had to fight to get anything done, "your too young" has been the automatic response for all involved, until I eventually cornered the surgeon & pointed out that he was expecting me to struggle & suffer in so many ways until I'm considered old enough, maybe another 10 years, assuming my cancer doesn't get me first. 

He had no ethical reply to my argument, let out a sigh & said he'd put me on the list lol. 

If you need it, you gotta keep on & quite literally be a right nuisance, thankfully I'm good at that ?

 

[concretesnail]

I've had my left one done, the right is still a mess. Recovery wise. I got off the crutches very quickly for getting about short distances but fatigue in the knee brought quite a lot of pain so I took one crutch f I knew I'd be putting in the distances. 

Hot cold treatment helped me with tissue recovery, both the surgeon and physio were surprised how quickly I'd managed to progress.

The thing that took the longest was flexation at the closed angle. Stick with the physio and grit your teeth. It's worth it but it feels like it takes forever at the time.

My time off the field was about a year, though I did think that I could have get back a little sooner, but I'd consider the ground your playing on. My local is in no way flat or even ground but if its a flat industrial floor type site I'd say you would be able to lumber around that much earlier. I return to work was much sooner, even though I'm not a desk jockey.

All that being said; grit your teeth, put the effort into rehab and you'll it'll feel much better.

 

[Guest]

Not knee replacement, but I have recovered from series injury in the past.

Physio is absolutely essential. I started from a strong position, being a gym junkie for over ten years before the accident.

Seven weeks in hospital with minor fractures left ankle and left hand, compound fractures to both femurs, smashed right wrist, snapped right thumb.

Was off work (desk job) for three months, after going back to work,I spent all afternoon, every weekday, at the gym for six months, then every weekday morning for another year and a half.

So two years for as recovered as I was going to get.

Nearly thirteen years later, my wrist, hand and thumb are perfect, wrist looks weird though.

Legs are royally fucked though, was recently granted a blue badge (I’m 55).

What I’m saying is, physio, physio, physio and physio, as low impact as you can, forever, and you’ll probably be OK. Expect at least a year to get back to where you are now, but without pain.

Take the painkillers, push the physio as hard as you can.

My left ankle is screwed with minimal movement from this and one previous accident, my left iliotibial tract tendon damaged by a misplace screw is slowly degrading (it was an emergency, I got to keep my legs, I’m not bitter).

My right Achilles’ tendon is thickening and stiffening due to the  extra pressure on my right leg.

Good luck, and do the physio.

 

[RostokMcSpoons]

Sorry I'm kind of side-railing this thread, but...
I was advised a long time ago that anything I could do to build up the muscle mass around my knees would be beneficial in preventing future injury - sounds like that's good advice then?

The problem is at the time I worked at Santander which had a gym in the building.  It's also had two machines which were absolutely perfect:  one looked like a reclined bike, with one foot at a time used to lift a rotating pedal-like bar up against weight resistance.  
And there was another standing machine which developed kicking strength where the whole leg was used to kick against resistance.
For a while I had great muscle definition and strength in both legs.   And then I changed job.

I've not seen these machines in any gym since, which has really pissed me off, tbqh.   I might sign up to a local Pure Gym in the hope there's something that will do a similar job to those two gizmos.

 

[Madhouse]

Mum & Dad have three false hips between them, can only echo what’s been said about physio. It’s not the op, it’s the damage to everything they have to chop through to do the job.

Personally, I had a disagreement with gravity on the MTB a few years ago, broke every bone in my wrist and dislocated it as well (along with a few other injuries) and again it was all about the physio. Not got full movement but you’d never know for daily tasks, oh and I can’t do a scout salute due to the metalwork holding my thumb on.

TLR - do the physio

 

[Tackle]

Thanks for the replies guys, yeah I'm set for an uphill struggle with the physio & fitness in general, as my ability to train declined over the last 3+ years, the timber started going on, coming from a long line of big "units" I know it's not easy to keep off, so even though I'll be doing everything prescribed & more, I'm also concerned the knackered right knee that also needs doing but isn't scheduled yet is gonna hold me back a bit from achieving goals, I think I may have to rely quite a bit on Robocop style knee braces to aid stability for a while.

@rocketdogbert, your accident sounds bad, was it a motorcycle ?

 

[Guest]

@rocketdogbert, your accident sounds bad, was it a motorcycle ?

Lol, yes, in the pits at Brands, 15-20mph ish, doh !

 

[Tackle]

Lol, yes, in the pits at Brands, 15-20mph ish, doh !

Never ceases to amaze me how many people walk away from the high speed offs but get hurt falling off at the lights ??️

I came off at 80, all I needed was some savlon for a couple of grazes & some clean underwear lol?

 

[concretesnail]

Never ceases to amaze me how many people walk away from the high speed offs but get hurt falling off at the lights ??️

I came off at 80, all I needed was some salon for a couple of grazes & some clean underwear lol?

That's the bloody true, utnts doesn't stop us riding them. 

 

[Guest]

Never ceases to amaze me how many people walk away from the high speed offs but get hurt falling off at the lights ??️

I came off at 80, all I needed was some savlon for a couple of grazes & some clean underwear lol?

A few high speed offs with no damage, that’s track days for you lol

 

[Colin Allen]

As the title says, I'm getting one in 13 days, my non dominant left knee, not that it matters, the right one is royally Fooked too?. 

My question to the rest of the forum is have any of you guys had a total knee replacement, & if so how long did it take you to get back on the playing field, any issues ?. 

I'm realistically expecting to be  good for nothing much for 2-3 months, but being the determined old git I am, I'm hoping I can meander round a flat site soon after that ? ?

Be good to hear anybody else's experiences following similar ops. 

Cheers guys 

Mark 

I cannot offer any insights or advice, but I hope you make a rapid recovery.

 

[Rogerborg]

As the title says, I'm getting one in 13 days, my non dominant left knee, not that it matters, the right one is royally Fooked too?. 

My question to the rest of the forum is have any of you guys had a total knee replacement, & if so how long did it take you to get back on the playing field, any issues ?. 

I'm realistically expecting to be  good for nothing much for 2-3 months, but being the determined old git I am, I'm hoping I can meander round a flat site soon after that ? ?

Be good to hear anybody else's experiences following similar ops. 

Cheers guys 

Mark 

I cannot offer any insights or advice, but if you don't make it, dibs on your stuff.

Never ceases to amaze me how many people walk away from the high speed offs but get hurt falling off at the lights

Yup, the worst off I've had was locking up the... well, technically "brakes" on a Royal Enfield at lights.  The crash bars did a great job of protecting it by landing on my knee, so give me a few years and I might be putting in for another borg implant.

 

[Tackle]

I cannot offer any insights or advice, but if you don't make it, dibs on your stuff.

Thanks bud, I knew you cared ?

Literally within the last 12hrs complicated home shits changed that may force me to cancel the op, or at least change the date, probably to early next year, some phone calls to make in the morning to confirm my options ?, can't decide if I'm pleased or pissed about it ?

 

[Rogerborg]

Thanks bud, I knew you cared ?

I care about stuff.

Sorry to hear about the delay, I hope you come back better than you were before.

Better, stronger, faster...

 

[Egon_247]

Lol, yes, in the pits at Brands, 15-20mph ish, doh !

Mate of mine went into paddock waaaaay too fast and ended up with his foot by his head. It true biker style the first words out of his mouth..  "is the bike alright".. ?

My dad's had both knees done, 3 months and he's back to normal. Its hereditary so I imagine I'll be in the same boat, so I'm taking notes... ??

 

[GiantKiwi]

I had combined reconstructive ACL and PCL surgery back in January 2020, I was back to walking unaided by about June (Physio over a zoom call was truly bizarre) and was back to open water swimming (leisurely, mind) by October. I've yet to even attempt coming back to Airsoft as it was probably the cause of it in the first place (A certain incident at Sandpit AI500 on the Sunday where some tit fell over on gravel and popped out both the knee and hip on one leg, and relocated it all in the same fall ?).

Persevere with the physio no matter how shit or pointless it seems and it'll be all sorted in no time at all.

 

[RichardC]

I had mosaicplasty in February 2021. I eased back into running in May. Ran up a Munro in September. Played first (ever) game of airsoft November 2021. Woodland site - quite scary but I wore hard knee pads and didn’t take any chances. I can now run about the woods. The op has been an absolute life saver.

Full recovery might take a while and it is important to push on with physio/rehab after the supposed ‘three month’ recovery period and not stop because you feel ok/have run out of physio time. I am still noticing improvements 18 months later. Big thing has been recovering the leg strength lost in the lead up to the op and after it. This restricted balance, getting up from prone and kneeling and recovering from slips and trips. Bulgarian split squats and going up stairs backwards have been a big help.

Good luck!

 

[Tackle]

I had mosaicplasty in February 2021. I eased back into running in May. Ran up a Munro in September. Played first (ever) game of airsoft November 2021. Woodland site - quite scary but I wore hard knee pads and didn’t take any chances. I can now run about the woods. The op has been an absolute life saver.

Full recovery might take a while and it is important to push on with physio/rehab after the supposed ‘three month’ recovery period and not stop because you feel ok/have run out of physio time. I am still noticing improvements 18 months later. Big thing has been recovering the leg strength lost in the lead up to the op and after it. This restricted balance, getting up from prone and kneeling and recovering from slips and trips. Bulgarian split squats and going up stairs backwards have been a big help.

Good luck!

Thanks, I'll be honest I had no idea what mosaicplasty was, thank feck for Google, looks like a very good treatment if the problem is caught early enough, glad to hear you've bounced back so quickly, that's the beauty of many of the newer focal treatments, hence why I picked one for my cancer, which fingers crossed is going well ?. 

But the knees are beyond the focal stuff unfortunately, the right has been on its way since '95, the left more recently, but knowing what I now know I have to wonder whether I'd have had more options considerably sooner if I didn't live in the back of beyond (sort of), & under a health trust that's doing its best to fob people off by not being open about treatment options available. 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing ?

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