I'm sure there are plenty of people on the Board that have had a knee replacement. I'm a reasonably active guy my 50's who has an IT job where I sit at a desk. How long after a knee replacement would I likely be comfortable going back to work. I've seen people taking 3-4 weeks which is way more that I thought. I've had arthroscopic surgery done on both my knees and was only out a day or two. What has been other people's experience?
OT - Knee Replacement Question
- Thread starter NazarethLion94
- Start date
Naz, my wife is a physical therapist for an orthopedic surgery group. She actually recommends 6 weeks.
Quote: "You can do earlier but pretty swollen and difficult to manage swelling and rehab much sooner than 4 weeks in most cases"
@NazarethLion94 -- I've never had that surgery (knock on wood), and I'm not a doctor or a PT, so take this for what it's worth.
My best friend did have the surgery a few years ago (perhaps more; I think it was a year before the pandemic), when he was in his late 50s. He also had a desk job. He was very good about rehab, and his timeline for returning was around the timeframe that @Grant Green mentioned in his reply. I recall that he was able to do a limited amount of work from home (mostly on the phone; a little bit on the computer) in the last couple of weeks he was out. Plus, once he returned, between rehab appointments, and soreness from sitting all day, the first month or so he wasn't able to work full-time.
Good luck with the process.
Here is an overview from probably the best hospital specializing in this kind of surgery:
HSS-Knee surgery
Had knee replacement surgery 1 1/2 years ago. The key is doing the work before your surgery. Do toe raises, squats and walk uphills as much as you can. I had it done the end of June and pushed myself through rehab , in 5 weeks I walked 18 holes of golf. It's the preparation before the surgery that makes it successful and gets you back to doing everything you used to do. Good Luck.
So what should be the deciding factor whether to go thru with it? Similarly I'm in mid 50s and have had arthroscopy in both knees to remove tears. I'm able to jog on the treadmill fine but then I may have to sit it out for 4 days as I'll be stiff and sore. Really varies. Do my PT exercises every day. Surgeon doesn't recommend I consider replacement till my 60s.
I started to have issues with my left knee at age 26 where I had most of the cartilage removed from my left knee. I had an ACL reconstruction in 1986 which failed by 1995 resulting in a second reconstruction. The lack of cartilage in my knee resulting in the failures of my ACL. I held off a knee replacement until my knee gave out a third time at age 54 in LAX airport.
The most helpful thing I had done before getting the replacement was getting a weight bearing X-ray on both knees. This will show you the spacing in your knee joint. In my case, I had bone on bone wear, and it was recommended that I have the replacement. Never regretted it.
Also, I would check with an MRI to see if you have any frayed cartilage. That is what happened to me at an early age resulting in the cartilage in my left knee being torn in six places resulting in the removal of 90% of the cartilage in my knee. Once cartilage starts to fail, bone on bone contact starts to occur.
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