Severe and sudden medial pain 4 weeks post PFJR

[faith]

Hello all

I have left a comment saying the same on my post op diary but thought I would post here too...

In short, I am almost 4 weeks post PFJR op. My recovery has been going well and last week I was able to achieve a 125degree bend. Feeling that I was stiff and unable to go better than that I ran a hot bath and tried to further that bend. As I straightened my leg I had the most severe pain on the inside of my knee and it was completely locked there. I couldn't bend it or straighten it any further. After sitting in increasingly cool bath water trying to move for almost half an hour I got my daughter to bring me some tramadol and diazepam and eventually the pain wore off enough to lift myself gingerly out of the bath.

Two hours later and I'm sitting on my bed with a wheat pillow trying to soothe it with warmth and I still can't bend or straighten it 

The rest of the joint feels fine.  What have I done?! 

Faith x x

[emergRN]

Faith,

Is the reason you can't move your joint from pain, or is it truly locked?  If it is the latter, and your joint is locked, you need to go to the ER.

W

[faith]

It felt completely locked but I think it was the intense pain keeping it like that, and not a mechanical reason. This morning it's a little better - the pain kept me awake last night, every time I tried to bend my knee it screamed at me. But today I can tentatively get to 90degrees. Nowhere near as good as I had been getting but it'll have to do for now.

Back to the hospital for PT tomorrow so if it's still this bad I'll see who else I can speak to while I'm there.

Faith x x

[emergRN]

So faith,

How did you make out?

W

[faith]

I went to see my PT. She had a good look at the joint and how it was working and moving. The pain flares on movement but it's not sore when you examine the area. No amount of prodding elicited any response from my cranky knee! She believes there's nothing mechanically wrong with the knee and that it's most likely some soft tissue damage in the area around the top of my tibia. It's possibly some scar tissue which was building up and got broken down when I tried to do an extra big bend (which is what I was doing directly before it became so painful).

She's told me to use it as a warning, and when it flares up again (which is does if I overdo it) to take it as a message to stop exercising for a bit. She's also told me to contact my OT if it gets any worse.

It's generally feeling a bit better now and will tolerate a certain amount of PT but shouts if I inadvertently twist my knee.

I'm just relieved I haven't done something serious to my lovely new knee!

Will keep you posted if anything changes but in the meantime thank you for your words of reassurance; I got myself into a right panic on Sunday, believing I'd done something really serious to it.

Faith x x x