Can I Climb Stairs After Knee Replacement Surgery

I put mine off but for me i just was not ready for another hospital stay and recovery six months after my transplant.

Can i climb stairs after knee replacement surgery.

Fortunately with some training and a little practice you can learn to negotiate stairs safely and with absolute confidence. The key to successful outpatient total joint replacement appears to be the use of modern anesthetic techniques that encourage early mobility motivated and healthy patients and effective multi modal pain management strategies. I could relate to it because after arthroscopic surgery my mom was reluctant to do stair climbing for first few days so it is definitely a big deal for knee replacement patients. Most patients have no problems with stairs.

If you have waterproof dressings you can shower the day after surgery. When can i have sex again after outpatient knee replacement. In knee replacement surgery surgeons cut away damaged bone cartilage and a ligament or two and add an artificial joint made of metal and plastic. Also due to arthritis in the knees patient s joints are so deformed that they cannot bear even their own bodyweight and thus cannot climb stairs effectively and thus avoid doing it.

So if stairs are the only issue you could do them but it would just be slower than normal. After successful knee replacement surgery a patient should be able to return gradually to normal activities including climbing stairs says mayo clinic. I know i will never again run up and down stairs like i was able to before but part of that may just be getting older. Navigating stairs may be one of the exercises a patient performs in the hospital after surgery according to the american academy of orthopaedic surgeons.

Babette maybe you should put off your tkr a little longer. David backstein operated on a patient at women s college hospital who walked hours after a knee replacement. Before knee replacement many people are not able to climb stairs because of arthritic pain. If your tkr is in early 2017 though i doubt that you are going to be prepared to attend committee meetings for at least 6 to 8 weeks following the surgery maybe even longer.

We do ask that you keep it to a minimum until the home therapist arrives to further instruct you. Once i was released from the hospital i started outpatient pt and within a few weeks they had me practicing a more normal alternating leg pattern on stairs. You will be instructed on how to go up and down stairs at the surgery center before you leave that day. Using stairs after hip or knee replacement surgery can be especially scary since the last thing you want to do is reinjure yourself and compromise the prosthetic.

You can walk a little further and climb a few steps with help from your pt. In a recent article in the toronto star dr. At 6 weeks i can mostly do stairs normally but if i am tired or trying to carry something i still revert back to the one step at a time.