For the most successful recovery-and the fastest return to normal everyday life – here are some important considerations for your first few weeks after surgery.

Be aware of the movements to avoid after knee replacement

There are a few movements that you may be discouraged from doing in the first few months, following knee replacement:

  • Kneeling
  • Twisting your body or your operated leg.

Check with your surgeon if and when you can resume these movements. It may be several months before you're able to start making these movements again, to ensure that the joint is fully healed.

Care for your wound and be aware of potential complications

It's important to care for your wound and avoid getting it wet until your surgeon advises you can. Following total joint replacement, there are several things you need to look out for and manage as you recover. A certain amount of tenderness and swelling is normal immediately after surgery. However, call your surgeon or hospital immediately if you notice any of the following symptoms :

  • Increased pain
  • Increased redness or swelling
  • Changes in the incision drainage (fluid coming from your wound)
  • Prolonged nausea or vomiting
  • Shortness of breath or chest pain
  • Chills or fever greater than 100.4 Fahrenheit

If you develop any signs of skin infection, urinary tract infection or abscessed teeth, contact your family doctor immediately. Treating these early can be crucial to protecting your new joint. Tell your dentist or family physician about your joint replacement before any procedure, such as dental work, a cardiac catheter, bladder exam, or any surgery. To learn more about potential complications, visit www.drdeepakinamdar.com.

Don't forget to ask for help!

Although your ultimate goal is to do things for yourself, don't try to do too much too soon. Recuperation takes approximately 6 to 12 weeks, and you may feel weak during this time, as well as experiencing some discomfort and swelling. Post-operative swelling is normal but it is important to minimise it. If the joint swells, ice may be used. You can also reduce swelling by ensuring the leg is elevated some of the time.

Get comfortable and on top of your pain

It is expected that you will have some degree of pain in the weeks following surgery, however pain should not get in the way of your ability to move your new joint, or complete your post-operative exercises. This means you are likely to need some form of pain medication.

Make sure your surgeon, in conjunction with the hospital, arranges a pain management plan, including instructions for any pain medications before you go home. If you have been sent home without a pain management plan or medication, and are experiencing pain, you should contact your surgeon. Take your pain medication according to your surgeon or hospital's advice. Your hospital may recommend you wear your elastic stockings for around 6 weeks after surgery. Following treatment, avoid tight clothes, including belts or tight underwear.

Household jobs

Avoid all strenuous and taxing jobs immediately after surgery. Only attempt small chores when you feel up to it, and even then, have somebody helping you if possible. Here are a few tips to help you recover:

  • Avoid heavy cleaning and household tasks (for example vacuuming, changing beds and cleaning showers). Ensure this is completed before the operation or ask family or friends to help in the first few weeks after surgery.
  • Don't get down on your knees to scrub floors. Use a mop and long-handled brushes (or get someone else to do it!).
  • Plan ahead. For example, gather all your cooking supplies at one time, and sit down to prepare your meal, instead of standing. To provide a better working height, use a high stool, or put cushions on your chair when preparing meals.
  • Place the cooking supplies and utensils you use more often where you can reach them without bending or stretching too much.
  • Use a clothes horse instead of a washing line to avoid reaching. You won't be able to carry a washing basket when you're first discharged home, you may need to ask for help from family or friends.
Steps and stairs

While you're in hospital, your physiotherapist will show you the right way to manage steps and stairs.

1. Remember going up steps:

good leg leads up first, then operated leg, then crutches or cane.

2,3,4. Down steps:

crutches or cane first, then operated leg, then good leg.

Washing and bathing

Your occupational therapist may recommend that you stand to shower if your balance is good. However, they may encourage you to sit down to attend to your legs and feet (such as during drying and dressing) to increase your safety. Again, remember not to flex your operated hip beyond 90 degrees.

It is a good idea to have more than one bar of soap in the shower as they can drop. Soap on a rope is helpful.

Make sure you follow any specific advice from occupational therapy staff, which may cover using specific equipment to help you maintain your independence.

Getting dressed

Your occupational therapist will have advised you the safest method to get dressed. When you have returned home from hospital, you should continue following your therapist's advice when getting dressed, for around 3 months.

  • When dressing, sit on the side of the bed or in a suitable chair. This will help your balance
  • Collect all the clothes you'll be wearing and put them on the bed next to you before you start. Avoid twisting and overstraining to reach them.
  • Do not wear tight garments over the wound this can cause discomfort
  • Start wearing shoes as soon as you start to move around, using the shoehorn on the inside of the recently operated leg
Sleeping

Sleep in any position that is comfortable. Avoid putting a pillow under your new joint when sleeping on your back as this may prevent you regaining full extension of the knee joint.

Sexual activity

You can resume sexual intercourse as soon as you feel physically and mentally ready, taking care to protect your new joint. Many people resume sexual activity between 6 and 8 weeks after surgery, by which time the surgical incision should have healed, and the muscles and ligaments are healing properly. Avoid sexual positions that cause you pain in the recently operated knee area, and positions that may twist or strain the knee.

After knee replacement surgery, try to stick to sexual positions that involve lying on your unaffected side or your back at first.

Driving

You will need permission from your surgeon to start driving again. This is usually around 6 weeks after surgery, sometimes longer. It is important to follow your surgeon's advice, for your own safety and the safety of others. Driving too early may also have implications for your insurance should you have an accident. Also, avoid travelling long distances as a passenger, by car or by plane, for at least a month after your operation, as this can cause excessive swelling and discomfort.

Work and recreational activity

Your orthopaedic surgeon will recommend how much activity to attempt safely once you have fully recovered from joint replacement surgery. Depending on your job, you may also need to find ways to avoid the heavy demands of lifting, crawling and climbing.

Recreational activities such as cycling, golf and swimming, can usually be resumed around 3 months after surgery. Your surgeon may suggest avoiding certain activities altogether - including sports that require running, jumping, quick stopping or starting - that may place excessive stress on your new joint. However, they will often encourage you to dolower impact exercises, such as cycling, swimming, golfing, bowling and level walking.

As successful as this procedure has become, results may vary from person to person, and it is important to have realistic expectations. Please ask your orthopaedic surgeon about the work or sporting activities that you would like to resume after surgery. It's important to remember that replacement joints do wear over time so discuss the timeframe you could expect your replacement knee to last and how you can ensure it lasts as long as possible.

For more information on what life will be like after recovery, ask your surgeon and visit www.drdeepakinamdar.com.

You can read about:

  • What to expect after recovery
  • Types of activities you can get back to enjoying
  • Adjusting to life with an implant
  • Frequently asked questions