Weeks 5 Through 7 Of Knee Replacement Rehab From My Perspective

Alicia Louise

5 years ago

After an adventurous but boring first four weeks of knee replacement rehab, it was time to head into the middle weeks of knee rehab. I know it sounds crazy to have it be both adventurous and boring, right? Read more about it HERE. After that fun, I figured the next few weeks would be pretty systematic. But like all best-laid plans, there were a few hiccups on my journey to week eight. Read on to see what I experienced during these weeks 5 through 7 of knee replacement rehab.

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Physical Therapy

By week five, I was beginning Physical Therapy and actually loving an excuse to get out of the house. Sadly, I still had to get rides to my appointments, as I wasn’t clear to drive yet. This is definitely something to think about when you plan your surgery if your Bad Knee is the right knee like mine.

The Physical Therapist took note of my age and how well I was progressing through rehab. How could she tell? I was doing more repetitions and different exercises than other knee replacement patients around me. I was okay with the soreness that came with these therapy sessions, though. I knew it was going to help me. I had goals, big goals, and I knew I needed to put in the work now. I still let pain be my guide. If something caused to much pain, though, I let the therapist know, and we backed it off or tried something else.

Your Therapy Should Be Tailored To You

Now no matter your age, I feel your knee rehab should be tailored to your needs. Maybe you have specific goals or hobbies you want to get back to. Perhaps like me, you have something new you want to try that you were never able to do before because of your bad knee or knees. If you feel like your therapy is not hard enough, ask for something more challenging. If you feel like your not working on something towards your goals, ask about it. Don’t ever feel like you have to go through the motions if it’s not giving you the best knee replacement rehab possible.

Stitches Popping Out Of The Incision

The doctor gave me the green light at week 4 to start using scar lotion to work at the mobility of the incision. The massaging helped will pain and the overall movement of the knee. Around week six, I noticed two big red bumps forming on my incision. I didn’t think much of it at first. The next day the red bumps formed whiteheads. When I went to my therapy appointment that day, I asked my physical therapist about it, and she wasn’t sure and advised me to keep an eye on them.

A couple more days went by, and the whiteheads popped. A bit of blood came out, and I noticed little white strings popping out. I thought, what in the heck are these things coming out of me! I swear I couldn’t just have a regular knee replacement recovery. I called the doctor’s office the next day. The nurse informed me they were dissolvable stitches that were trying to force their way out like a foreign object. Apparently, this is a rather common complication for dissolvable stitches in knee replacement surgeries. Read more about them on the healthline.com website.

The Doctors Visit

The next day I went in to see the doctor so he could make sure the opened areas were not infected. Luckily they were not. I was put on a strong antibiotic for ten days as a precautionary measure. (I made sure to take a probotic as well) I was also told to rinse the area with peroxide twice a day. He also wanted me to leave the incision open to air unless it was going to rub against clothing. Then I needed to cover them up with band-aids. No lotion was to be used until they were healed entirely. The doctor explained that by the time the 10 days of medication were done they should heal back over.

I followed all the instructions the doctor gave to me. No infection formed, which I am most grateful for. I ended up having four different areas that the stitches popped through. It made my scar a bit more jagged than it was prior, but other than that, everything healed up well by week eight.