Reply To: knee pain in month 4

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#466
barb
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Hi Judy,

I had my injury at similar time to you – TPF and ankle break on Nov, 14 – external fixator & surgery a week later on Tibia (2 plates front and back of knee). Cast put on ankle for 6 weeks.
I was NWB for about 10 weeks post-op. Began physio at 8 weeks post op – Jan 23rd.
Got onto crutches at this point and then began PWB over subsequent weeks in addition to
many exercises to regain quads. (I’ve done over 26,000 exercises! plus pool work)
I’m currently able to use one crutch at home but cannot fully weight bear on leg, still need that bit of crutch support – due to knee pain, muscle weakness, etc.
I can ‘just’ lift myself up onto a 15cm/8in step and keep balance without holding anything and then lower back down standing on bad leg.

Re: pain in knee. My knee feels like a jumbled mess (now 16 weeks post op) lots of clicking and grinding as I walk.
btw – did you mean March 3, not April 3 for walking with cane? – must be because it isn’t April yet.

I too have had localised pain in one part of the knee which makes walking hard, but after a few days I found it had eased – I think as muscles strengthen through continued exercises. Anything pain-wise that lasts for an extended period of time (like a week or more) you should definitely have checked out. I’ve come to realise that this is a VERY slow injury to recover from – progress cannot be assess daily but more 1-2 weekly – then I can notice an improvement.

I also have found that despite my looking for others with similar situations, there just aren’t two injuries/bodies exactly the same. But be encouraged that so many people do improve over time. Be patient and keep up with what exercises you can do that don’t cause you pain. If standing for longer than 10 minutes is too painful, don’t do that unless advised by a professional/physio or Dr. to persist with it.

Or perhaps do 5 minutes, rest and ice (if you get swelling – plus it feels nice!) and then do another 5. Your leg muscles will strengthen.
My physio has consistently told me not to do anything that causes acute knee pain.

Another factor that has slowed my process has been nerve damage from tournequet – I have a constant numbness and pins needles in lower leg and foot – I haven’t come across others with this either despite looking and looking for a voice that could help me.
This damage is also VERY slow to fix itself – so I’m just waiting as walking on a foot that feels it is ‘asleep’ only adds to the difficulty!

hope that rambling helps.
Barb