Feminist reflections on fitness, sport, and health
August 29, 2022 was new knee day.
Today my new knee is three years old.
I’m still going to physio but not multiple times a month. I’m just checking in once a month to see how my mobility is coming along.
I’m going on long walks. I’m walking faster. I’m lifting heavy weights. I’m riding my bike lots again.
Life is good. Happy birthday left knee!
I’ve just had a two year check up for my left knee. It went well. All is good. Except for the annoying form they have me fill every visit.
Why are bowling and golf ranked as more active than cycling?
Also, don’t you think it’s an odd list? Acrobatics? Ballet.
It’s okay. I add in my own comments each time. I Just can’t let the categories go unchallenged.
And I’m on my own for two years. Next check in is 2026. Wow.
Thursday, April 11, 2024 my right knee is one year old. My left knee turned one back in August 2023.
Happy birthday, new knee!
In March, 2023 I was counting down. Getting closer, I blogged about the two week countdown. April 3rd, I was getting ready. And on April 13th, I was coming home after surgery.
These days, I’m thinking less about my knees. I’m walking more. I’m doing physio twice a week still and personal training twice as well. My balance, mobility, and strength are all pretty good.
Think I’ll take this guy out for a walk today!
For the first few months after total knee replacement surgery, the changes were big and dramatic. Lately, things have leveled off, and I started to wonder if I’d reached the new normal. Will this be a good as it gets? But there are still changes and occasional surprises.
Here are eight of them:
👍Where’s the ibuprofen? For months after the serious prescription pain meds, I was still taking over the counter ibuprofen and acetaminophen, and then all of a sudden, I wasn’t. While I was going through my recent bout of flu followed by covid, I went to look for some, and they had migrated to the basket of less used bathroom items. Without even being deliberate about it, I’d just stopped taking them.
👍Stairs! I’m climbing them. Up and down. More than one flight. With and without handrails. Also, carrying things. Don’t get me wrong, if there are handrails, I’m using them, but even going down, which is harder, I’m still walking down normally without handrails. Which also reminds me to remind you, please don’t decorate rails with lights and garland. Pretty? Yes. But not functional for those who rely on them.
👍Getting up and getting down again. For the first while after knee surgery, I was only getting down on the floor at physiotherapy where the floor is cushioned, and they have extra cushions that fit under your recovering knees. To get up, they give you stability poles to help you balance. After that, I started doing floor exercises at home with a yoga mat on top of the carpet, but it still felt very deliberate. Now, I’m not really thinking much about it. I got down on the floor to untangle Christmas lights this week. It feels pretty easy to get up. But more importantly, I don’t have to psyche myself up for it. I just do it.
👍More active around the house. For the first while after surgery, I focused on knee physio but didn’t do much around the house other than make the bed, cook, put clothes away, and empty the dishwasher (Sarah loads. She’s the Scandinavian architect. I’m the raccoon on meth.) But the thing is normally I’m someone who prides herself on strength and on carrying things. All the groceries in one trip? Got it. Carrying laundry up and down multiple flights of stairs? Check. Swapping winter and summer tires from bedside the house for many vehicles? Can do. Carrying bags out to the car for road trips? On it. (Sarah loads. See the dishwasher comment above. ) And the good news is I’m myself again. If I couldn’t ever do it again, that’s okay. I’d adjust, and everyone would still love me. I know that. But it feels good being strong and capable.
👍Bend! One of the main goals of post-operative physio is regaining flexion and extension. I work on it most days. I saw great progress in the weeks after surgery, but then I got to a certain degree of bend and then hit a plateau. I kept working at it and working at it, and now everyone once in a while, I surprise myself with some terrific bendiness. Nothing like the super bendy yoga lady in the stock image below but bendy for me.
👍 I can kneel! After knee replacement surgery, some people never regain the ability to kneel. My physiotherapist says it’s mostly a matter of desensitization. There’s no actual harm to your knees by kneeling. But it feels very weird. Luckily, she’s right. Kneeling is feeling much less strange after doing a lot of it. I can do cat-cow pose in yoga without concentrating on my knee. I’m looking forward to gardening again in the spring.
👍I’m wearing shoes again. Shortly after the second knee surgery, I bought a pair of the world’s most comfortable running shoes, Hokas, and I wondered if I’d ever wear anything besides them. I contemplated getting pairs in lots of different colours to match my clothes. Lately though, I’m back to wearing Danskos, my usual work shoes.
Here’s my latest pair.
👍Muscles. Right after surgery and for months after, I hated the way my legs looked. It wasn’t the incisions or later, the scars, but legs had lost all their shape. They didn’t look like my legs. But lately, when I catch a glimpse of my legs in the mirror, I see that my muscles are back. If you’re a runner or a cyclist, you just get used to seeing your activities reflected in the shape of your body. I’m happy my leg muscles are back.
Anyway, all of this is just to say that I’m still making progress. It’s a reminder to keep on doing the physio even after you’re through the early stages of change.
Thursday was my six month check in with the knee surgeon. I passed the flexion tests with flying colours. I can bend my right knee well over 90 degrees. And he was impressed with how well I’m walking without the cane. All good.
I’m cleared for return to work. I can drive again.
At the end of the visit I was asked if I had any questions. I see the surgeon again at twelve weeks.
I asked whether I could ride my bike outside and if there was anything I shouldn’t do with my new knee.
I laughed at his reply, Lead your best life!
He said most people are more self limiting than they need to be.
I know the list of things not recommended after knee replacement surgery–contact sports, downhill skiing, running.
But I also know lots of people stop doing other things after knee replacement.
It’s got me thinking about training and where I want to set my sights. Knee replacement or not, so many of us slow down as we age and the reasons why are complicated.
I’ve worked so hard at physio in the past year that I’m wondering about keeping it up. What might some stretch goals be? Obviously I want to get back to long distance riding. But what have I stopped doing that I want to add back on?
I’d like to do more hiking and some more back country camping.
I definitely want to keep lifting weights and get stronger, both because strength feels good but also because it matters for healthy aging.
I’m wondering about Aikido, basic movements at least if not full on training.
This week I head back to the gym and do some workouts that aren’t physio. It’s time and I’m excited about it.
I’ve written a few times about things we can do for our knees and about just how much physio I’m up to these days.
In case you’re curious, here’s what I typically do when I’m not going into the clinic for physiotherapy.
On most days I divide this into a morning set and an afternoon set with another round just of flexion and extension in the evening. When I’m going into the clinic, I let that count as my afternoon set.
After a round of physio exercises, there’s then elevation and icing but that’s getting less urgent now which is good since I’m returning to work next week. Luckily there’s a freezer at my workplace for ice and a ton of room for physio in my office.
In preparation for returning to work, I’m moving all of my physio appointments to the evening. I’m very excited about biking there. It’s about 5 km from my office and then another 7 km home, so a perfectly reasonable summer evening bike ride.
In bed:
1. Quad sets
2. Short arc bend with tube under knee
3. Leg flexion with assistance and hold
On floor:
4. Leg lift over block
5. Side leg lift
With resistance band:
6. Clam shell
7. Sit to stand
8. Glute bridge
9. Leg extension
On steps:
10. Calf raises
Seated:
11. Knee flexion
I do other stuff too–TRX squats and some kettlebell swings. At the clinic, I also do some weighted sled pushes and pulls, I use the leg press machine, and then there’s my least favorite, monster walks. My favorite is riding my bike on the trainer which also helps a lot. But the eleven above are the everyday, mainstay of my daily rehab workout.
My right knee is healing well. I can do a lot with it now.
For example, I can walk upstairs now the normal way. I don’t need to lead with the good knee. Both knees are good enough for that task.
Also, and this is more exciting, five weeks past total knee replacement, I can pedal forwards on the bike. Yay! I’m doing about five minutes of forward pedaling at a time. I haven’t turned Zwift on yet as I’m not keen to see my speed, power, or cadence but being able to pedal forwards is exciting enough.
I’m also impressed that my knees match. Check out those surgical scars. A friend reminded me to use sunscreen on them.
I spent some time looking at tattoos for knees but then decided I don’t want to cover these up. Also, if I need revision surgery in there future I’d hate to mess them up.
My much more functional knees make me smile. And I’m not bothered by the scars. I’ve been wearing shorts and not feeling at all self conscious about them. I do notice now that lots of other people have them and I don’t think I noticed at all before.
Do you have visible surgical scars? How do you feel about them?
Tuesday marks one month since my second knee replacement surgery.
While recovery from knee replacement surgery is a long slog, here are some of the things I’m looking forward to this week.
♥️ I put my gym membership on hold for a month and that ends Tuesday. Tuesday I’m back to the gym for some upper body weight training and some time on the recumbent bike.
♥️ I pedaled backwards six times today on my bike that’s on the trainer at my house. Pretty soon, I’m guessing this week, I’ll be able to manage a full pedal rotation forwards. You can read here about how I discovered that backwards is easier than forwards.
♥️ End of the week Sarah and I are going to go visit Jeff on the boat. You can read about his summer boating plans here.
♥️ Cheddar and I are looking forward to some longer dog walks together. We might go visit the Arboretum with my mother and Charlie and Chase. I can’t drive yet so that would be a team effort.
♥️ Speaking of team efforts, my mother and I have some garden centre visiting to do before I get back to work.
♥️ And speaking of work, my plan is to gradually start looking at my email and tackle some small tasks as I start to get my energy back. I’m booking some meetings and looking forward to my return to campus.
Anyway, wish me luck. It’s a long haul and a lot of work but I’m excited about the summer ahead.
It’s been almost two weeks since knee replacement surgery and I’m starting to feel like myself again. The first two weeks of recovery are intense. It’s a mix of pain, pain management, not enough sleep, physio, icing, elevation, and a lot of medication. The pain meds are obvious but after surgery you also take anti-clotting medication, antibiotics, and iron pills.
But now, the worst of it is over. I get my staples out tomorrow. I’m no longer taking serious pain medication. I’m sleeping 3-4 hours at a stretch which feels heavenly compared to 1-2 hours. I can sleep on my side now. Some of the sleeping does involve dogs. They’re great nap companions.
I can read. Also, I don’t need crutches about the house. I’m climbing up and down stairs pretty regularly. The mobility aspect of this recovery is much speedier with the second knee, now that I have one good leg. There’s a month now before back to work.
The recommended medical leave for knee replacement is 6-12 weeks. Last time I just took 6 weeks and I think I’ll do the same this time. I don’t have a physically demanding job. Mostly I sit at a desk or attend meetings. I can do physio in my office and I’ve got a freezer for ice storage.
My doctor made it clear it was up to me about length of leave and by six weeks I felt ready to get back at it. I was sleeping properly and I wanted to get back to some of my academic writing. It felt wrong, since I’m paid to be a Dean, not a publishing scholar, to be home from the Dean’s office and working on my own research. I also missed the people in my office and the projects on which we were working.
I was amused both times by the people who were shocked I took leave at all. Surely, they said, I could just work from home? I’m not sure I’d do my best administrative work while on morphine, frankly. But even after those first two weeks I wasn’t quite ready to go back. I was still struggling with sleep and physio took up an awful lot of time.
Mostly the ‘no leave’ crowd were either American or had business jobs, or both. I felt pretty comfortable with the low end of the recommended leave last time and I think it’s likely I will this time too.
I’m already starting to get a little bit bored. I’m binge watching The Expanse (I’ve stopped and started before but never made it all the way through) and doing a lot of physio.
I’m hoping that weather picks up this week and I can sit outside and see if I get any birds at my new bird feeder.
Once the staples are out and everything is healed, I’ll head back to the gym and the recumbent bike, some weight lifting, and maybe more aquafit.
I’m really looking forward to riding my bike to work this summer too.
So it’s been exactly one week since knee replacement surgery and things are going well on most fronts. Except for sleep. Which is miserable. And I feel sorry for everyone I know with sleeping difficulties. (Hey Jeff.)
Normally I’m an obnoxiously healthy sleeper. Certainly I usually get enough sleep and I feel good about it. I go to bed early. I get up early. It’s all pretty textbook, as recommended, stuff. If I struggle at all it’s with consistency and the hours I sleep. But I’ve even been making progress on that front.
Until knee surgery.
Argh.
I’ve been in too much pain to sleep through the night. It’s hard to even get to sleep. I have to sleep on my back right now. And the prescription narcotic drug that works best for pain (I’m only taking it at night) has as a side effect, sleeplessness. Great.
I can only sleep once I’m absolutely exhausted and then I end up sleeping during the day which only makes for more sleepless nights.
I’ve been watching The Expanse in the middle of the night. I’ve never made it all the way through before. This time, I’ll try.
Maybe I should try counting sheep or one of those how to fall asleep like a Marine drills.
Here’s some sheep to start with.
Last knee replacement it was at week two that I started googling and buying special pillows to help with sleep and recovery. This time around it’s at week one. But I already own all the fancy pillows.
I’m hoping this stage of recovery doesn’t last. I remember last time it got better once I could sleep on my side again. Wish me luck and all the zzzz’s.
