Arthroplasty – Initial Weeks After Surgery

Transcript

The most difficult part of your recovery process is going to be in these first two weeks following your joint replacement surgery. That’s when the swelling is the worst, the pain is the worst, and you want to make sure you’re controlling these factors with the pain medicines, as well as local modalities, such as icing your knee or hip, elevation, frequent mobility as well. Even if you’re not walking all the way around the block or doing a lot of intense exercises, simply moving the joint following joint replacement helps to reduce the pain by improving the stiffness associated with joint replacement surgery. Even with minimally invasive techniques, the muscles themselves are affected, causing them to swell and be uncomfortable following the surgery itself. By improving your mobility and moving the joint more frequently throughout the day, typically every hour, you decrease the stiffness potential and allows you to become less painful following your joint replacement. Typically in the first five to 10 days, you likely will still require the use of some type of ambulatory aid. Typically, I prefer patients to be on a walker for at least the first five days following their surgery. Your muscles aren’t ready to really receive all of your body weight and do all the things that you typically do throughout the day. Even if you feel that you could, there may be instances where suddenly the muscles aren’t quite ready or they’re fatigued and they might give out on you. And therefore, if you don’t have something stable, you may be at risk of falling. Falling in the first few weeks following surgery is a devastating problem and can lead to other further issues such as fracture around your new joint replacement.