2 Things to Do to Recover From Your Knee Replacement

If your knee has become so damaged that it needs to be replaced, then you may need to have a knee replacement. Before you get this procedure, you need to know how to recuperate from it so that you can have the best possible recuperation and the most successful replacement that you can get. So, what are some things that you need to do to successfully recover from your knee surgery?

Physical Therapy

One of the things that you need to do is to go to physical therapy. Physical therapy s going to help you with a lot of things. One of the things that will happen is that the therapist you are going to see will help you with things like strengthening the bones and muscles around your replacement. During the surgery, all those things get moved around and the replacement is fused to your bone.

As part of the recovery process, the bones need to get stronger, and doing certain exercises can help with that, as well as help the muscles, tendons, and ligaments get used to having this new foreign body inside your body and get used to how it works. It may have been a while since you have been able to walk without your knee hurting, so you may have started bad habits to compensate, and physical therapy can help you get rid of those habits as well. 

Listen to Your Body

Another thing that you are going to need to do is to listen to your body. You may feel the urge to do as much as possible as soon as possible, but the problem with that is that it is going to hurt your recovery and could hurt the long-term success of your knee replacement. Listening to your body means that you stop doing whatever it is you are doing when it causes pain. Pain is different than discomfort, and you may have discomfort while you are doing your exercises, but it shouldn't really be a strong or sharp pain.

If you are worried about the difference, talk to your doctor and your physical therapist and they can help you figure out what is healthy discomfort and what is unhealthy pain. You also need to pay attention to how tired you feel after your surgery. Even a procedure that is as non-invasive as possible is still a surgery, and it is going to take you some time to feel better. Pushing it will only make it harder for you to recover. 

If you have to have knee surgery, make sure you are doing everything you can to have a successful recovery.