3. Post-Surgery

 
 
“Each opportunity
to stand is an opportunity
to exercise... ”
 
 
 

Physical Therapy Post-Surgery

As I lay in my hospital bed the first day after each surgery, I knew there would be immediate challenges ahead. With the help of a physical therapist, I would soon be doing the following:

• Sitting on the edge of the bed

• Moving to sit in a chair and

• Walking (with the support of a walker).

From the PTs who treated me immediately after my surgeries, I learned to view each opportunity to stand as an opportunity to exercise (while acknowledging and respecting my physical limits). I learned the importance of incremental progress and persistence. Since this was the beginning of my rehab, I needed to think of it as such look for ways to improve gradually. Could I add more body weight to my standing foot? Could I slide my foot out— or bring my heel back—a bit further? I continued trying to follow the Guiding Hand principles of Being Good to Myself and Being Honest with Myself. Recovery was a long, gradual slope I had just begun climbing. Backsliding and bad days would be ahead, but I knew I would endure and, ultimately, succeed.

 

Carefully planning the first step post-surgery

_22---New-PT-Image1.jpg
_22-New-PT-Image2.jpg
 
“Trying facilitates achievement. Each experience improves your likelihood of later success.”
 

Here is a summary of the advice I was given as I prepared to leave my bed for the first time after surgery:

1. You are most at risk the first time you are out of bed. I learned the truth of this advice and the reality that “no two surgeries are alike” at the same time. After my initial TKR, everything went as expected the first time I attempted to stand. I was careful, the PT was attentive, and all went well. That was not the case after my second surgery, however. The nerve block I had received for that surgery had not yet worn off. When I attempted (with a bit too much confidence) to stand the next day, and I learned the true meaning of “having no leg to stand on.” Fortunately, the PT was there to catch me as I started to collapse.

2. Pay attention to the blood pressure monitor when first sitting on the side of the bed or in the chair. After my second surgery, the residual effects of drugs caused my blood pressure to plummet as I sat in the chair, and I needed to be lifted back into bed. Again, this had not happened after my first surgery.

3. Remember to stay hydrated and take your pain medication before PT.

4. Increase your stability by holding on to whatever is most stable within your reach when you move. Steady yourself first and then gently put weight on your leg with the new knee while relying on your other leg for support. The bed won’t slide if you are going from bed to chair, nor will the chair if you move from chair to walker.

5. The easiest way to move into the chair from the bed:

• Back up against the chair until your calves touch
• Sit down by extending your butt back
• Hold your hamstrings and glutes tight
• Lower yourself into the chair

6. Sidestepping is another way to get to your destination when you begin walking again.

7. Force your knee to do as much work as possible each time you sit down. Remember, the arthritic knee is gone, and you are now the boss of your body.

8. Allow yourself to start small and keep trying. The following is trite but true: If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again. Trying facilitates later achievement. Each experience improves your likelihood of later success.

9. Look for available opportunities to exercise. Tighten your core, glutes, and legs whenever you stand. Minimize the use of your hands when standing. You will find that your center of gravity has shifted with new knees, making it much easier to stand up straight.

 
 

Next: Walking