Post-Op Pitfalls: The 5 Biggest Mistakes After Knee Replacement
Do you have any idea what knee surgery replacement is all about? Well, knee replacement is a common surgical procedure that is performed in terms of replacing the injured or worn knee joint with an artificial joint.
After researching the fact, it has been seen that Knee replacement surgery is one of the most common surgical procedures across the United States of America. Patients mostly enjoy reduced pain and a more active lifestyle, so you must thank them for the procedure.
In this article, I will discuss the five biggest mistakes after knee replacement.
What Are The Five Biggest Mistakes After Knee Replacement?
Knee replacement surgery is one of the most popular surgeries. Every year, around 1 to 2 million people undergo knee replacement surgery. Below, I will discuss the five biggest mistakes after Knee replacement.
1) Don’t Take It As Normal
Most people, after knee surgery, take it back to normal as soon as possible. This might be a good choice, but it is essential after a major surgery, your body would be given some chance to rest and heal.
However, it is important to keep in mind that knee replacement is not like other surgeries where you are expected to get up quickly and where you will be able to do exercises regularly after surgery.
If you can do these types of activities too much, then it will cause patients to experience pain and more inflammation. In this case, make sure you are resting your knee with ice and also make sure you are taking elevation, which can help stop this vicious cycle.
On the other hand, once your knee surgery is over, swelling and inflammation are common, which will cause stiffness, difficulty moving, and pain. Yes, ice and elevation can indeed be quite helpful, but on the other side, ice helps to constrict blood vessels. This reduces blood flow, which in turn reduces inflammation and swelling.
Are you wondering what can you never do after knee replacement? Well, there is not anything like that. After the first week of surgery, the doctor will recommend you for physical therapy exercises by any expert physical therapist. In this case, a physical therapist will tell you how to rest your leg along with an elevated and straight knee. At this moment, you will be required to get up, and as per instruction, you have to walk every hour.
2) Don’t Under Do It
After the first few weeks, you have to start getting up and make sure you are doing those things again. Researchers said that after recovering from knee replacement, people who live alone have better outcomes than those who live with a caregiver.
Every week, you should push to do it a little more. However, you don’t go outside from housework often. In this case, you might have significant pain, or you might face swelling or even discomfort.
Multiple walking programs will help you get relief from knee replacement, such as:
4th week after surgery: 5 minutes walk per day
5th week after surgery: 6 minutes walk per day
6th week after surgery: 8 minutes walk per day
7th week after surgery: 10 mins walk every day
In this case, make sure you are not doing too much exercise after knee replacement. These types of walking programs will help you out by slowly adapting to the new changes. It is essential to take the walking program gradually. Actually, if you are sitting 24 hours after knee surgery, then it might have a negative impact, and the risk of complications will increase. This can cause stiffness, reduce the range of motion, and cause swelling. This can also put pressure on the knee, increasing discomfort and pain.
In addition, sitting for a long time will increase the risk of developing blood clots in your legs, and this is potentially a serious complication that will lead to pulmonary embolism.
Do you know at this stage, movement, and activity are a must after knee replacement surgery? Your healthcare provider will likely recommend the personalized program, which includes multiple activities and exercises to improve knee range of strength, motion, and, of course, flexibility.
3) Using The Wrong Pillow
After Knee surgery, it is important to keep your knee straight. If you are one of those resting your knees bent, then make sure you are resting your surgery knee on the knee replacement pillow. Do you know just a slight bend in your knee that could last forever?
Actually, after surgery, maintaining knee extensions plays a huge role in terms of successful recovery and long-term outcomes of the process. Aside from that, the best sitting position after knee replacement is also important to know. The knee replacement is mainly designed to restore the standard mechanics and function of the knee.
After surgery, if you are keeping your knee straight, you provide support and stability to the joints. This also provides support and stability to the joint. On the other hand, maintaining knee extension helps to minimize inflammation and swelling in the joints, which will also be able to accelerate the healing procedure easily.
Not only that but if you are straightening your knee regularly, it can help improve muscle strength around the joint. Stronger muscles provide better support, and they also allow for improved stability and entire function.
4) Make Sure You Do PT
After surgery, physical therapy rehabilitation is important for optimal results. Do you know PT is one of the significant parts after knee replacement? This will ensure you can do everyday things and pick up things on the ground.
Although it has been said that post-surgery of the 6th week, doctors won’t consider you “Out of luck” regarding mobility if your new joint replacement, with most knee replacement patients, it is important to do all those stretches even if these will hurt your knee. In this case, you can take pain medications which will help you to get rid of knee stretching pains.
5) Don’t Walk With Any Assist
One of the most important things which you have to keep in mind is that you don’t walk with any assistance. Always make sure you are walking with a walker or crutches, which have to be given to you post-knee surgery.
This is quite tough to balance after knee replacement. But still, this helps you to keep your knee upright. On the other hand, you have to keep your weak quads safe because the knee might buckle suddenly, leading to falls.
In Conclusion
I have discussed the five biggest mistakes that knee replacement patients usually make in this article. After replacing the knee, patients usually suffer a lot of problems. At this point, you can transition yourself from a regular walker to a cane.
Yes! You said correctly that you will have a slight falter without using any walker. In this case, using a cane is one of the most useful things. On the other hand, once you start walking without a limp, ensure you have put the cane away. I hope you liked this article. In case you have queries, then please do comment below.
Learn More About:
