Partial Knee Replacement Experience

[david.g.chapman]

My +2 has been working well - but I have had problems with my knees for some years.

10 days ago I finally had somewthing done about it and had a right PKR on the NHS (the first of two - one on each knee). I am now working towards getting back in shape.

How does this affect Plus 2 ownership I ask? Well the first thing is that the knees come before the car - so if I have to sell so be it. However, I has previously worked out that I need to get back 120 degress of movement in my right knee to get into the car while it is in the garage. I am nearly there after 10 days, so am getting more confident about getting back into the car and resuming normal activity.

Note I am 6 feet 2 inches tall, so a shorther person or getting into an Elan would lead to a different knee angle.

As for kneeling in future - I have been told "why not?" by a medical professional - we will see after a few more weeks.

I do not spend that much time kneeling anyway - I am ether leaning over the car to do things in the engine compartment, or flat on my back under the car. I suppose I will have to position the car more carefully in my 60's single garage to get me in position to do wheels, brakes, hubs etc.

I will let you all know how I get on over the next few weeks, and also after my second PKR in 6 months or so.

If anyone else has had a similar operation I would like to hear about their experiences as well....

Dave Chapman.

[elanfan1]

My step father had double knee replacements in his sixties after a lifetime playing football etc. Like you 6' 2" but big built overweight. He benefitted from much pain reduction post operatively but was told he wouldn't be able to kneel. I think in the end he was able to but he found it very uncomfortable (though he was very stoic and wouldn't show it). He built his own kneeling stool thingy with thick padding so he was able to continue doing weeding and the like.

I reckon really going for the physio is the key along with kneeling even if it is uncomfortable and eventually your body adjusts to it.

[fatboyoz]

Hi Dave,
Not knee related, but pertinent I think.
I had a R/H hip replacement 10 years ago, and am having the L/H hip replaced in two weeks time. Fundamental to recovery and ongoing Elan type suppleness, is maintaining flexibility. I attend one session of Pilates a week, and have been doing this for the past eleven years. From personal experience, I cannot recommend highly enough the need for stretching and exercise to keep your repaired bits and pieces in good working order.
Cheers and good luck with the recovery.
Colin.

My +2 has been working well - but I have had problems with my knees for some years.

10 days ago I finally had somewthing done about it and had a right PKR on the NHS (the first of two - one on each knee). I am now working towards getting back in shape.

How does this affect Plus 2 ownership I ask? Well the first thing is that the knees come before the car - so if I have to sell so be it. However, I has previously worked out that I need to get back 120 degress of movement in my right knee to get into the car while it is in the garage. I am nearly there after 10 days, so am getting more confident about getting back into the car and resuming normal activity.

Note I am 6 feet 2 inches tall, so a shorther person or getting into an Elan would lead to a different knee angle.

As for kneeling in future - I have been told "why not?" by a medical professional - we will see after a few more weeks.

I do not spend that much time kneeling anyway - I am ether leaning over the car to do things in the engine compartment, or flat on my back under the car. I suppose I will have to position the car more carefully in my 60's single garage to get me in position to do wheels, brakes, hubs etc.

I will let you all know how I get on over the next few weeks, and also after my second PKR in 6 months or so.

If anyone else has had a similar operation I would like to hear about their experiences as well....

Dave Chapman.

[david.g.chapman]

Thanks to both of you for your replies.

Yes, flexibility is the key. I have been told to build up the exercises slowly over the 6 weeks - I you go too fast the knee can deteriorate.

Having only a half knee replacement makes things easier - as I said I think I can get 120 degrees flexion fefore long, and I will be happy to take that going forward to maintain and drive the car.

I should add for the NHS people out there, that my knees were only worn to the bone on the medial (inside) compartment. The NHS line is that if you can live with it then they do not sanction an operation. I could have struggled on but I got a private consultation and diagnosis from a knee surgeon. It was him who opened up the door to a half knee implant. I then went back on the NHS to have the operation under the same surgeon (I had to wait of course).

So for others in the same boat it might be an idea to go private first of all. A few hundred pounds is a lot less than ?12K for a private op!

Cheers,

Dave Chapman

[The Veg]

No personal experience, but everybody I've know who has had a knee replacement has been satisfied enough that they wished they'd done it sooner.

[tcsoar]

No personal experience, but everybody I've know who has had a knee replacement has been satisfied enough that they wished they'd done it sooner.

Both my knees are shot, cruciate ligament in the right repaired 15 years ago, left one now gone trying to help the right!!

Had them looked at earlier this year and was told I had the knees of a 70 year old but because I am only a sprightly 53 years I was to young, they reckoned that I would knock the replacements out in under ten years. So sometimes you can't get them earlier

On the plus side I have now been given permission to get another classic that doesn't involve rolling out of and the +2 can stay

Chris.

[Chancer]

Had them looked at earlier this year and was told I had the knees of a 70 year old but because I am only a sprightly 53 years I was to young, they reckoned that I would knock the replacements out in under ten years. So sometimes you can't get them earlier


Chris.

Do you know what knocked them out?

I ask as someone that only started running at the age you are, I now run 80+km per week with no problems but I see injuries all around me and crucially many that ran from an early age that have had to give it up permanantly through injury, against that the best performers were all footballers in their youth and had to give that up through injury for running, often I dont see them for 6 months or so following another setback.

[david.g.chapman]

Yes, if you are too young then you might have to wait and suffer...

The surgeon has said to me that I can expect 10 years + on my half knees, typical for active people. I will then have total knee implants at 73-75 years which should see me through. Revision surgery from a half to a total knee implant is easier than doing a total implant again - but re-doing a total implant is still a fairly routine operation.

I had to make the decision to suffer for 10 years and risk damage to my knee ligaments (wear on the inside of the knee stretches the outer ligaments, apparently, and can lead to instability), or get it done now. It was a no-brainer.

At 3 weeks post op I can now get into the car and have 125 degrees of flexion - I am really chuffed. The original pain in my right knee has also gone - just aches and pains from the swollen tissue.

If it carries on like this Cossack dancing is on the cards!

[fatboyoz]

Hi David,
Back into the car at three weeks sounds marvellous. I am presently starting day one in hospital after a total L/H hip replacement yesterday afternoon. Had the other side done 10 years ago aged 54. Motorbike and waterskiing accidents, in my younger days, coming back to haunt me. I have been told 6 weeks away from driving due to clutch leg and awkward angles etc.
Glad to hear you have regained a useful degree of movement.
Cheers,
Colin


At 3 weeks post op I can now get into the car and have 125 degrees of flexion - I am really chuffed. The original pain in my right knee has also gone - just aches and pains from the swollen tissue.

If it carries on like this Cossack dancing is on the cards!

[tcsoar]

Chancer,

In my early years I played a lot of rugby and football, into my late teens concentrated on football until my late twenties/early thirties, was fairly injury free, and at this point I was blissfully unaware of any problems.
My first knee injury was like a bolt out of the blue when about 35, I was messing around with one of my two boys and went to jump over a bit of bunting about 18 inches high, when I pushed off on my right leg my knee gave way and I collapsed on the floor. Pain was intense, I had partially ripped the Cruciate ligament from the bone.
A couple of operations later all was fine until my early 50's and now get pain in both knees.

Chris.

[TroonSprint]

Running, particularly on pavements, is very hard on knees and ankles - they call it high impact exercise. Racket sports can be classed the same too, especially badminton or squash. In the hospital where I worked the physios reckoned that runners were the fittest bunch of invalids they saw.

Mike

[Chancer]

Time will tell whether having led a sedentary life and never doing any sport will have resulted in my joints only just being "run in" before I started at 52!

I know when I was Young if I bought a low mileage cherished car owned by a retired person it would not last a couple of weeks once I started raggin it!

Either i am an exception or am overdue for an injury, everyone around me seems like your physios describe!