Post Operative knee replacement, ongoing pain, please help

[4weddings]

My husband who is 70 had a total knee replacement 6 weeks ago and the pain seems to be intensifying rather than diminishing.  He had a childhood injury to this knee, then another operation 13 years ago but is crying with the pain most of the time and has gone from ordinary pain killers to needing morphine.   He has physiotherapy 3 times per week, also hydrotherapy and acupuncture, they all say he is making some progress but very slowly and keep telling him exercising will relieve the pain.
He can walk around the house for short periods without either crutches or a stick so has some function but the pain seems unrelenting and is affecting his life quite seriously (and mine).
He says the pain now is worse than prior to the operation and I am wondering if this is normal.   It is so painful he cannot do the exercises as he should and the knee is very swollen and tight.  

He has seen the general practitioner who is managing the pain but I am wondering if this is how it should be or if something is going off track and we should be seeing the surgeon for a follow-up.  Thank you if anybody can help me.

[Kareeena]

You are the first person who described the same pain I had.  I had a TKR in June and was in pt until end of October.  My Leg was crooked before and is straight now, but the pains that shot through my leg were bad!  I attributed a lot of that pain to my hones readjusting to being straight.  Now the dr says he has to go in and put a thicker pad in because I am still swelling 2 yrs post op.  Had complications from NSAIDs and my knee is getting stiffer as it swells.  I had surgery to end my knee pain, but it looks like this is a never ending story.  I am very hesitant to go back for more surgery!

[ranaekc]

I had my left knee replaced 20 months ago and also still have pain and stiffness. Yoga has helped but I still have pain and stiffness when sitting, or standing or after light gardening, like pulling weeds. All the Drs and xrays show nothing wrong.I'm going back to may earlier sports Dr. that does dextrose prolotherapy. It helped before I had the surgery. He also uses a hi dose vit D cream and a new dextrose cream for followup treatment.  There is a lot of research out there about this treatment. Its especially  helpful for nerve damage after surgery which is what most surgeons and other Dr's don't address.  Check it out. Here are a couple of good sites
http://www.jointandspine.com/prolotherapy/neural-prolotherapy/
http://www.drreeves.com/Introduction
Search for prolotherapy in you area

[regnar]

Makoplasty PKR 12 weeks ago.  Did very well for 6 weeks - much worse since then.  ROM 135/3 but gets very stiff with any use. Walking great at week 6 but difficult now due to stiffness.  No infection. Was doing PT each day but now have stopped PT and trying to give it plenty of rest.  Ice 4X/day at least. Help!  

[deedigney]

I am now going on 20 months this week, I have very very bad burning  from my knee cap down the front of leg and to and  angle, my leg is stiff with swelling by night time, can not sleep, I am in my house all the time ,because I have trouble walking ,so I just stay in, went  to 3 th DR,last week to check my leg, he said no problem,,,now, I think pain, swelling, is not just no problem, anyone out there having problems like this ????   Dee

[bolohilly44]

Hi,I am 6 weeks post op tkr,my question is there supposed to be swelling under knee that hurts,mostly at night with painful swelling ?Doc has me on fantanyi 50 mcg/hr with oxycodone 10 /325 ,still not able to extend to 0 degrees,but flex is improving .Ive read alot about infection being possible ,what blood test do i need to requst from my primary doc to rule infection ? Still feel pain  with pain meds?Never been so depressed in my life ,doing all stretches and ice,elavation, does this get better.

[linakasocal]

I had TKR on 11-27-13 and 18 months later, I still have some pain and swelling plus a lot of tenderness on the shin just below the knee. I cannot kneel at all nor can I get up from a low seat or squat, although I can get down into a squatting position. My leg muscle never recovered enough to lift my body back up, however, and I've noticed that the more active I am, the more swelling I have in my leg. The swelling in my left knee makes it almost 2" bigger around than my right knee and my entire left leg is swollen to the point it is between 1" and 2" bigger at most points of measurement, in spite of taking diuretics to keep edema down.

I have noticed that if I go into higher elevation [>5,000 ft] or if I stand for a long time, or if I walk 'too far' in a day, my leg will hurt but I started wearing my TED hose again and that seems to help a lot. The pain seems to be related to swelling and the TED hose help manage that, although I'm not thrilled about wearing them. I told my doctor about the pain and he was not very sympathetic as I'm quite active and in his opinion, I am more active than most people my age [69] so he thinks I'm doing fine - his response was that most people my age are happy to get to the grocery store! But I want to enjoy hiking and other activities so that's not a very satisfactory answer as far as I'm concerned!

I do take Diclofenac Sodium twice a day [strong anti-inflammatory] and that helps with the pain but I worry about side effects as it can damage liver and stomach - I take Vicodin when the pain is too much for the Diclofenac to manage - and it hurts less when I am sedentary but that has its own bad side effects so it seems like there are no good options!! The doctor first told me things would probably get better by one year - then at one year, he said 18 months - now that we're at 18 months, he just says "It's a long, hard recovery for some people."

The good news is that I do have great range of motion and I can walk around much more than I could before the TKR, which had me nearly bedridden before surgery. The pain is somewhat less each month than the month before so maybe if I live long enough, I'll see the day when it's gone. I have other friends who have told me it took 2-3 years before they were really able to resume hiking and their FULL active life and have a few friends who had to 'retire' from some of their more strenuous activities and learn to enjoy a quieter life.