Anyone have knee replacement recently?
my knees are weak sometimes until I get going thru the day...yes a Tylenol here and there helps, but standing for long periods on stage years ago night after night until I woke up and sat down playing kb, old age, arthritis, degeneration who knows,.....so scared down the road I will if needed ever have to have knee replacement whole or partial.....or face a cane or walker without the procedures,.....
has anyone gone thru this...if so what was your experiences, therapy, and rehab ritual, full recovery time etc,...

I am always looking for alternatives also...

Donny...went through knee surgery a year ago. Didn’t have a replacement, but was told during PT that if a replacement was necessary...go with a total replacement.

jingleman

how long was PT..?

Donny you have been sitting for the nearly 20 years I have known you

I believe in use it or lose it... I am pretty sure I have been more active than you over the years.. I have always played sports and have had my share of injuries.. never went under a knife..

My old buddies from younger days were quick to get cut up.. I played on average more than another 30 years after they became spectators..

Don't get lazy.. force yourself to be active... even if it is walking.. Hopefully the use it or lose it has not caught up to you..

BTW: I try to walk 4-6 miles a day.. (usually 4 days a week).. and I pick the hottest time of the day to walk..

You would be surprised how many operations are not needed.. I have heard this from doctors that brag about the easy buck to be made..

I fully agree, Fran. Orthopedic surgery is a huge, money making business throughout the nation. Donny, unless you are in excruciating pain and your joints are down to bone on bone and eroded, there is no good reason for knee replacement surgery.

Recovery time for total knee replacement varies significantly with the age and weight of the patient. Overweight and morbidly obese individuals frequently experience up to 12 weeks in a rehabilitation facility, which in many instances is nothing more than a glorified nursing home with a gym and a physical therapist on staff. People that are normal weight and fairly physically fit, may spend as little as a week in the facility, then a couple months of therapy at an outside facility.

There are a fair amount of wound infections that are associated with joint replacement surgeries, too. I personally, know of a half dozen friends that experienced this and some had to go back for complete revisions, which is a horrendous experience.

Think about this one seriously before jumping in with both feet,

Gary

Thanks for the great advice at this point I am just fishing for information pro or con....

I'm on Fran's thought - use or lose. I stand when playing (for the last 10 years or so). I drive quite a bit to jobs, etc and sitting in a car is enough - I limp to the front door and fit in well with the residents But standing up and moving around gets the circulation going again. Plus I sing much better (need all the help I can get).

To be honest Donny...If I had to do it over, I might have avoided it. I’m still having little issues almost a year after.

Mine was a Workman’s Comp situation. If I hadn’t had the surgery with WC...my standard insurance might not have covered it...if it got worse and a year had passed.

Good Luck,
jingleman

PS: rehab was a drag...but you’d get through it.

Zuki just wait it will eventually take its toll not in a good way on stage and you will be sitting. one hr is nothing try doing some
two 4 hr doubles back to back and you and your back and feet will be begging for a chair big time ....enjoy it for now. good luck

Thank you Dr. Wizard!!

Yes, agree! I would probably sit in a long venue. I also switch it up at home, sit and stand. Sometimes, I just like to grill out, goof around on home stuff and run in the room to play more - easy when standing - lots of fun

Gary what the hell kind of doctors or hospitals are your friends going to. I have had two total knee replacements in a 2 year time period 14 years ago and have seen dozens and dozens of people during therapy, none of whom had the same experience as your six friends.
I am not saying anyone should jump into surgery as all avenues of treatment should be explored, but I am happy I had mine done and even happier it wasn't by the same doctors or in the same hospitals as your friends.

I agree Tony good post. But like I said it was just an exploratory question or so called fact finding mission to just hear others opinion & experiences on the topic.Take care

Donny, you got mail ...

Tony, maybe you should look carefully at the statistics on wound infections, which are far more prevalent today than they were when you had your knee replacements, especially in the orthopedic field. A simple stitch infection can lead to a real problem. Hospitals have experienced a growing problem with hospital staph, which caused one of the PSR Tutorial members to nearly lose his life just two years ago. There are several new strains of this disease out there that do not respond to conventional antibiotic therapy and can be deadly, even in the best hospitals. Tony, you were fortunate and had a good experience, but there are lots of folks that have not had that same experience you enjoyed.

Now, I think I know a bit more about medicine that 99 percent of the folks on this forum, you included. I spent 15 years of my younger life working with the top surgeons in Baltimore's most prestigious teaching hospitals, University of Maryland and The Johns Hopkins Hospital. I trained at the National Institute of Health under Dr. Michael Debakey, Dr. Joe McLaughlin and other top thoracic surgeons in the nation. And, I continue to keep up with many of the advancements in surgical technique and cardio-pulmonary medicine, which I specialized in and taught at Spokane Community College. I saw and worked on more surgical patients in a day than I care to remember, and even with some of the best sterile technique, back before hospital staph infections were prevalent, wound infections were not at all uncommon.

My wife needs a knee replacement, but the surgeons will not do it because she developed a skin rash that the dermatologists have not been able to cure for more than 8 years. The knee pain she experiences daily is horrible, but the surgeons refuse to perform the knee replacement surgery because the odds of developing a serious infection in the replacement are extremely high.

So, Tony, you may have some friends that have not had a problem, the same as you have not, but in this instance, you really don't know what the Hell you are talking about. While the infection rate varies from as low as 1-percent to as high as 5-percent, keep in mind that there will be 1.4 million knee replacement surgeries performed during this year alone. And, those infections can show up at any time, during the hospital stay, during post operative therapy and recovery, and sometimes several months to a year after the procedure, depending on the disease entity. Now, I only had to scrub on a couple dozen knee and hip replacements, but I didn't have to do the followups on these patients. I only had to scrub on these cases because there was a cardiac risk of the patient undergoing up to 3 hours of deep, general anesthesia. I was there to place the patient on a pump-oxygenator if they happened to go into heart failure during the procedure. Consequently, I was acting as a surgical assistant unless a problem developed.

Tony, revision surgery of a knee takes about twice as long as the original procedure, sometimes longer. The recovery time is about twice as long as well. And, the longer the wound is open, the greater the risk of wound infection. There are lots of studies that can be found in the New England Journal Of Medicine that clearly show how the risk of infection increases with the length of time the wound is open.

One last point, Tony. Most of the doctors I worked with were professors in teaching hospitals and considered by their peers as among the best in the nation, and in many instances, the best in the world. As for the hospitals, it would difficult to find more prestigious institutions than The National Institute of Health, The Johns Hopkins Hospital and University of Maryland Hospital. University of Maryland Hospital is where the first Shock Trauma Unit was founded by my boss, Dr R. Adams Cowley. Johns Hopkins Hospital is where Dr Ben Carson, world famous pediatric neurosurgeon was director of the Department of Neurosurgery and successfully performed some of the most complex surgical procedures ever attempted. Many of the top surgeons in the nation did post doctoral fellowships at NIH when I trained there.

Gary

Got it buddy thanx

Gary ... Thanks for pointing that out ...

Here is someone else who apparently doesn't know "what the Hell he is talking about"

https://www.healthline.com/health/total-knee-replacement-surgery/outcomes-statistics-success-rate#1

Especially in the part where the article talks about complications ...

I'm out ...

Tony, that report reinforces everything I said. Maybe you should read what I said again and read the report again.

I really don't like arguing with people, Tony, especially those who I considered good friends. However, I felt insulted by your statement "Gary what the hell kind of doctors or hospitals are your friends going to. I have had two total knee replacements in a 2 year time period 14 years ago and have seen dozens and dozens of people during therapy, none of whom had the same experience as your six friends."I take pride in my medical background and education and the continuation thereof over these many decades.

Nuff said,

Gary

Gary ... Unlike you, I did not say anything personal to you or about you ...
Like I said "I'm out!!!"

Donny,
About 30 years ago I had knee surgery to repair a torn cartilage. It lasteed about 20 years and i began having issues again. Well, the last year has not been real good. But, I found an awesome pain management doctor and got a PRP injection and the result was nothing short of a miracle.

Two weeks ago I took a bad step and my knee broke down and I was sure i was headed to surgery again. In the meantime I tried Acupuncture and WOW! What a difference it has made. I did only 3 treatments and could not believe the difference.

I guess the point here is there seems to be alternatives to the old practice of rushing to the operating room and I am glad I gave them a try. Will the results last? Who knows. But it sure has made life a lot better for the time being.

Another thing happened. I met a doctor who specialized in hip and knee pain. He suggested trying a product made by "Good Feet" which is nothing more than shoe inserts. Well, I got a pair and you would not believe the difference it has made too! I had been having serious hip pain and since using these shoe inserts the pain has totally disappeared! Go figure.
The theory is if your feet are not well supported your knees and hips take the load which causes problems.

I have three friends who have had Stem Cell injections in their knee and all three of them claim to have no knee pain at all now.

Anyway, hope any of this makes sense and helps.

Deane

Dean......this is all Great information I really appreciate it...
today's medicine is clearly a miracle .....I will look into everything you describe above for sure....
stay well and stay healthy my friend.

https://www.goodfeet.com/pain-relief/foot-pain

Ps Dean can you elaborate more on this PRP injection process...thanx

https://www.hss.edu/condition-list_prp-injections.asp

https://www.hss.edu/condition-list_prp-injections.asp


Not hard to find other articles ... GOOGLE prp injections ...

No experience with knee replacements.

Last November I had my right hip replaced. Today, my hip works like it did 25 years ago....works great.

That said, in the three months following hip surgery, I developed a serious blood clot and a septic infection that, I am told, I was lucky to survive.

Here's the thing.

I’ve used my back, hips and knees heavily over my lifetime and I’ve had a desk job most of that time.

In the last 10 years I would lift/haul 100+lbs of music equipment, three to five times a week. Did it aggravate my hip before surgery...yes, of course.

I’m down to hauling(playing)100lbs of equipment twice a month now.

Could I play more? Yes.

However replacing a hip or knee could run $75,000 or more. Takes me a few gigs to pay for that.

😊

Donny,
the PRP injection was pretty simple. The doctor took blood from me, then mixed it with
whatever the "good stuff" is and then injected it into my knee. The injection helps the
knee heal itself and takes a little time. That said, the moment I got off the table I had no pain.
The procedure was done in the doctor's office. Insurance did not cover it.

Deane

OK Dean Thanx......
How many times do you get the shots...
.

Donny,
Usually, pending your condition as discovered with a MRI study, you will get one injection. Then some months later it will be determined if a second injection is needed - again after a MRI study.

Some of our friends have had three, on of them only one. It depends on how severe the knee problem might be.

Donny, the most important part of this is to be dealing with a reputable doctor who specializes in stem cell and other medical injections like these.

Deane

ok understood my friend thanx for the info...