5 Essentials To Do’s and Don'ts After Knee Replacement Surgery
Knee replacement surgery, also known as knee arthroplasty, is a significant procedure that can greatly improve mobility and reduce pain for individuals suffering from severe knee arthritis or injury. However, the success of surgery will depend upon proper post-operative care.
The following specific guidelines will aid in a smoother recovery, minimize complications, and achieve the best possible outcomes. Various essential things to do and not to do after knee replacement surgery include the following five suggestions.
Do's After Knee Replacement Surgery
1. Do Follow Your Rehabilitation Plan
Importance: Physiotherapy is an essential part of recovery after a knee replacement surgery. By adhering to the rehabilitation plan prescribed for you by your healthcare provider, you will be able to regain strength, flexibility, and range of motion in the knee.
What to Do:
- Attend Therapy Sessions: Attend all sessions of physical therapy scheduled.
- Do Exercises: Continue the home exercise program your therapist gave you. The exercises are designed to strengthen the muscles around your knee and restore normal joint movement.
- Progress Gradually: Gradually progress the exercises as instructed by your therapist. Do not rush the process, because this might lead to injury.
2. Do Control Pain and Swelling
Importance: A comfortable and painless state, along with minimal swelling, will facilitate the healing process. Adequate control of pain can keep you mobile and provide a chance for some physical therapy, which is so important for the knee replacement surgery recovery process.
What to Do:
- Take Medications as Prescribed: Pain medications and anti-inflammatory drugs are prescribed by the doctor, and these must be taken as indicated-never more often.
- Apply Ice: Apply ice packs to the knee for 15-20 minutes several times a day. Always wrap the ice in some barrier to your skin, like a cloth, to protect your skin from direct contact with the ice.
- Elevate Your Leg: Keep the leg above the heart for much of the time. This will help reduce swelling.
3. Do Use Assistive Devices
Importance: Assistive devices, like crutches, walkers, or canes, help you move safely and lower your chance of falling or re-injury while healing.
What to Do:
- Use Devices Correctly: Your health care provider may teach you how to use assistive devices properly, including how to adjust their height and the proper technique for using them.
- Gradually Advance: As your strength and mobility improve, gradually progress from the use of assistive devices to independent walking. Only do this when instructed by your therapist or physician.
4. Do Follow a Healthy Diet
Importance: Good nutrition helps with the healing process and maintains overall health, both of which are important features for an easy postsurgical recovery.
What to Do:
- Balance Diet: Pay more attention to lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Protein, however, is mainly important for tissue repair.
- Hydrate: Ingest many fluids as a way of keeping your body hydrated. You must, however, limit too much consuming caffeine and alcohol since they might impede the process of your recovery.
- Monitor Weight: Ensure that you maintain good weight to avoid load from your new knee joint.
5. Follow Up with Your Healthcare Provider
Importance: Follow-up appointments are crucial for observing the progress in your recovery, detecting any complications, and revising the rehabilitation program accordingly.
What to Do:
- Keep All Appointments: Make sure that you don’t miss a single scheduled follow-up appointment with your surgeon and physical therapist.
- Promptly Discuss Unusual Symptoms: If you feel something is going wrong, inform your healthcare provider about unusual pain, fever, and other signs of infection.
Don'ts After Knee Replacement Surgery
1. Don’t Overexert Yourself
Importance: This can, in turn lead to overexertion resulting in complications, setbacks in recovery, and pain. Rest should be balanced with activities.
What Not to Do:
- High-Impact Activity: Do not drive a high-impact activity such as running and jumping that puts excessive stress on your knee without clearance from your doctor.
- Don’t Skip Rest: Allow yourself time to rest and never push through pain. Rest is a healing factor.
2. Don’t Neglect Wound Care
Importance: Wound care is essential to prevent infections and ensure that the surgical site heals correctly.
What Not to Do:
- Keep the Wound Dry: Keep the surgical area dry. Avoid submerging the wound in water-such as when you bathe or swim-until your doctor tells you that this is safe to do.
- Don’t Ignore Signs of Infection: Be wary of infection signs such as increased redness, swelling, warmth, or discharge. These symptoms must be promptly reported to the healthcare provider.
3. Not Disregarding Guidelines about Physical Therapy
Importance: Poor recovery outcomes will be achieved from disregarding the guidelines about physical therapy in this case, such as loss of range of motion and possible increase in pain.
What Not to Do:
- Exercises Not Approved: Avoid performing any exercise or activity that has not been approved by your physical therapist. Incorrect healing and further injuries can occur with non-approved exercises and actions.
- Not Rushing Improvement: Improve based on the recommendations provided for you by your physical therapist. Do not attempt to rush improving the exercises or activities.
4. Not Disregarding Pain Signals
Importance: Pain is usually associated as a flag for when something goes wrong, or if an individual is overdoing something. Not heeding these pain signals may also result in complications.
What Not to Do:
- Avoid Self-Medication: Avoid taking over-the-counter medications yourself without discussing this with your doctor. The intake of certain medications can interfere with your pain management prescription plan.
- Don’t Push Through Severe Pain: If the pain is indeed acute and worsening, then stop the activity and consult your healthcare professional for advice.
5. Don’t Skip Post-Surgery Guidelines
Importance: Every single guideline directed post-surgery by your healthcare professional should be executed in order to ensure recovery.
What Not to Do:
- Avoid Neglecting Directives: Do not neglect your surgeon or therapist’s instructions on weight-bearing, activity levels, or medication.
- Never Skip Follow-ups: Missing scheduled follow-up appointments can possibly delay healing and lead to late medical interventions in case any complication sets in.
Top 5 mistakes after knee replacement
- Skips of Physical Therapy: Omission of prescribed exercises for patients hinders mobility and full recovery.
- Overexerting yourself: Doing too much before time can damage the new knee, slowing down the healing process.
- Ignoring Pain: Lack of attention or undermining may result in complications or failure to heal.
- Failing to Follow Post-Op Instructions: Failure to adhere to your surgeon’s post-operative care and activity instructions will slow down the progress.
- Inadequate Support: Most patients avoid using supportive devices as recommended, thus further affecting balance and mobility.
Also Read –Knee Strengthening Exercises You Can Easily Do At Home
Consult with Dr. Rik Kundra for Knee Replacement Surgery
Consult with Dr. Rik Kundra for knee replacement surgery. Dr. Rik Kundra has expertise in the latest methods of minimally invasive, bone-sparing knee replacement surgery that expedite recovery. He actively engages in surgical education, research, and development of new surgical techniques in collaboration with premier orthopedic companies.
Dr. Kundra does not stress a conservative, patient-centered approach but lets the patient make the right decision after presenting and explaining things in detail.
Disclaimer
All content and media on this page are created and published for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice. Meet Dr. Rik personally for appropriate medical diagnosis and advice.
