Exercise before surgery

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In a message dated 6/23/2004 2:04:24 PM Central Daylight Time, sarah@... writes:

A friend

had THR on Monday, and it's going to take her a much longer time to

be back on her feet.

____

I had TKR on Mon the 14th, and will be leaving the rehab unit with a cane tomorrow morning. Everything went well until this morning when I tried to cut out even the early AM tylox I was taking. Have not been able to take them during the day because of dizziness. This morning, there was much more knee pain when doing anything that required flexion.....could only get 100 degrees instead of the 110 I got on Tues. Bummer. Need the pain med, but need not to take it so I can do the walking. Either way, tomorrow I will either do my own thing at home, go to outpatient, or start homecare.

I'm inclined to want to try homecare for one big reason......the local homecare is using the anodyne infr-red thing they wrap around your legs that is supposed to help neuropathy (I have definately peripheral neuropathy). Haven't heard a word about driving yet. Hope to walk into the church on Sun with cane...could even sing in choir if I wanted to.

Actually, I should confess that I led an exercise class for the OT this morning for a couple of my fellow knee and hip patients. That was fun.

Concerning exercise before surgery, would advise anyone to practice a couple of things...

1. for knee, purchase a weightand do short arc quads til you're blue ...in the face and then follow up with a million quad sets as soon as you leave the recovery room.....even on the CPM machine, can do quad sets whenever it cycles into extension.

2. Pretend you have no use of your legs whatever, and practice coming to sitting in the bed coming up on your elbows

3. Practice reaching down to your feet and putting on a pair of socks to make sure you can do it (this is NOT for the hip patients)

4. Practice putting the toes of your good leg under the forefoot of the bad leg and moving the bad leg an inch or so in or out

5. Make or obtain some sort of a "loop" that you can put around your foot and use to help move the leg across the bed. The loop can be made from a men's tie, a cheap but sturdy belt, a piece of cloth you sew up yourself, or whatever. There is even one you can purchase that has a handle reinforced with heavy wire and a loop at the end to hook around the foot. This can be very valuable for the first couple of days.

6. Become acquainted with what is available in the Durable Medical Equipment stores so you'll know what's out there before you need it in terms of walkers, canes, bath bench, shower stool, portable commode (tht can be used over a toilet to give you arms to push up with, but don't tell medicare you're using it for that....you need to say its for bedside), etc. Don't buy the stuff, as medicare or isurance will purchase what you need (or at least 80% of the price). Definately a good idea to get some grab bars for your shower or bath, and a hand-held shower head, and get them installed before you go to surgery.....these aren't paid by medicare or insurance usually, and are a good safety thing for any older person to have anyway.

Guess that's enough for now.....what else would some of you add?.

y

[Guest guest]

What is peripheral neuropathy? Thanks!

-----Original Message-----From: scottyzpt@... [mailto:scottyzpt@...] Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 2:35 PMJoint Replacement Subject: Re: Exercise BEFORE surgeryIn a message dated 6/23/2004 2:04:24 PM Central Daylight Time, sarah@... writes:

A friend had THR on Monday, and it's going to take her a much longer time to be back on her feet.____I had TKR on Mon the 14th, and will be leaving the rehab unit with a cane tomorrow morning. Everything went well until this morning when I tried to cut out even the early AM tylox I was taking. Have not been able to take them during the day because of dizziness. This morning, there was much more knee pain when doing anything that required flexion.....could only get 100 degrees instead of the 110 I got on Tues. Bummer. Need the pain med, but need not to take it so I can do the walking. Either way, tomorrow I will either do my own thing at home, go to outpatient, or start homecare.I'm inclined to want to try homecare for one big reason......the local homecare is using the anodyne infr-red thing they wrap around your legs that is supposed to help neuropathy (I have definately peripheral neuropathy). Haven't heard a word about driving yet. Hope to walk into the church on Sun with cane...could even sing in choir if I wanted to.Actually, I should confess that I led an exercise class for the OT this morning for a couple of my fellow knee and hip patients. That was fun.Concerning exercise before surgery, would advise anyone to practice a couple of things...1. for knee, purchase a weightand do short arc quads til you're blue ...in the face and then follow up with a million quad sets as soon as you leave the recovery room.....even on the CPM machine, can do quad sets whenever it cycles into extension.2. Pretend you have no use of your legs whatever, and practice coming to sitting in the bed coming up on your elbows3. Practice reaching down to your feet and putting on a pair of socks to make sure you can do it (this is NOT for the hip patients)4. Practice putting the toes of your good leg under the forefoot of the bad leg and moving the bad leg an inch or so in or out5. Make or obtain some sort of a "loop" that you can put around your foot and use to help move the leg across the bed. The loop can be made from a men's tie, a cheap but sturdy belt, a piece of cloth you sew up yourself, or whatever. There is even one you can purchase that has a handle reinforced with heavy wire and a loop at the end to hook around the foot. This can be very valuable for the first couple of days.6. Become acquainted with what is available in the Durable Medical Equipment stores so you'll know what's out there before you need it in terms of walkers, canes, bath bench, shower stool, portable commode (tht can be used over a toilet to give you arms to push up with, but don't tell medicare you're using it for that....you need to say its for bedside), etc. Don't buy the stuff, as medicare or isurance will purchase what you need (or at least 80% of the price). Definately a good idea to get some grab bars for your shower or bath, and a hand-held shower head, and get them installed before you go to surgery.....these aren't paid by medicare or insurance usually, and are a good safety thing for any older person to have anyway.Guess that's enough for now.....what else would some of you add?.y

[Guest guest]

Hey y,

How about some exercise tips for us hip people? I'm having two hips done soon.

You're not exactly a "lay" person. scottyzpt@... wrote:

In a message dated 6/23/2004 2:04:24 PM Central Daylight Time, sarah@... writes:

A friend had THR on Monday, and it's going to take her a much longer time to be back on her feet.____I had TKR on Mon the 14th, and will be leaving the rehab unit with a cane tomorrow morning. Everything went well until this morning when I tried to cut out even the early AM tylox I was taking. Have not been able to take them during the day because of dizziness. This morning, there was much more knee pain when doing anything that required flexion.....could only get 100 degrees instead of the 110 I got on Tues. Bummer. Need the pain med, but need not to take it so I can do the walking. Either way, tomorrow I will either do my own thing at home, go to outpatient, or start homecare.I'm inclined to want to try homecare for one big reason......the local homecare is using the anodyne infr-red

thing they wrap around your legs that is supposed to help neuropathy (I have definately peripheral neuropathy). Haven't heard a word about driving yet. Hope to walk into the church on Sun with cane...could even sing in choir if I wanted to.Actually, I should confess that I led an exercise class for the OT this morning for a couple of my fellow knee and hip patients. That was fun.Concerning exercise before surgery, would advise anyone to practice a couple of things...1. for knee, purchase a weightand do short arc quads til you're blue ...in the face and then follow up with a million quad sets as soon as you leave the recovery room.....even on the CPM machine, can do quad sets whenever it cycles into extension.2. Pretend you have no use of your legs whatever, and practice coming to sitting in the bed coming up on your elbows3. Practice reaching down to your feet and putting on a pair of socks to make sure you can do it (this is NOT for

the hip patients)4. Practice putting the toes of your good leg under the forefoot of the bad leg and moving the bad leg an inch or so in or out5. Make or obtain some sort of a "loop" that you can put around your foot and use to help move the leg across the bed. The loop can be made from a men's tie, a cheap but sturdy belt, a piece of cloth you sew up yourself, or whatever. There is even one you can purchase that has a handle reinforced with heavy wire and a loop at the end to hook around the foot. This can be very valuable for the first couple of days.6. Become acquainted with what is available in the Durable Medical Equipment stores so you'll know what's out there before you need it in terms of walkers, canes, bath bench, shower stool, portable commode (tht can be used over a toilet to give you arms to push up with, but don't tell medicare you're using it for that....you need to say its for bedside), etc. Don't buy the stuff,

as medicare or isurance will purchase what you need (or at least 80% of the price). Definately a good idea to get some grab bars for your shower or bath, and a hand-held shower head, and get them installed before you go to surgery.....these aren't paid by medicare or insurance usually, and are a good safety thing for any older person to have anyway.Guess that's enough for now.....what else would some of you add?.y

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 6/24/2004 11:10:20 AM Central Standard Time, celestialsecrets@... writes:

How about some exercise tips for us hip people? I'm having two hips done soon.

_____

You can make use of the same exercises with a couple of exceptions, since you need to be careful of your hip precautions. But building up all the musculature as much as possible presurgery will be important. You'll not want to do the rotating inward after surgery, and you won't be able to bend down to put on socks, but using a loop, quad sets, ankle pumps right after surgery are needed, as is crawling up to nearly sitting using your elbows. You'll also want to include glut sets, which means squeezing your buttocks together, and heel slides, which means bringing your knee up by bending it and dragging your heel along the sheet....but you can't go past 90 degrees of this.

ly, the hip patients seem to have a good deal less pain, and get going right away, particularly when allowed full weight bearing. There are a lot more variations in hip surgery though, so you'll have specific things you need to do.....us knees are more or less a double resurfacing, which has been a good, but hurting, proceedure for many years.

y

[Guest guest]

Thanks y. Not many people have 2 done at the same time.scottyzpt@... wrote:

In a message dated 6/24/2004 11:10:20 AM Central Standard Time, celestialsecrets@... writes:

How about some exercise tips for us hip people? I'm having two hips done soon.

_____

You can make use of the same exercises with a couple of exceptions, since you need to be careful of your hip precautions. But building up all the musculature as much as possible presurgery will be important. You'll not want to do the rotating inward after surgery, and you won't be able to bend down to put on socks, but using a loop, quad sets, ankle pumps right after surgery are needed, as is crawling up to nearly sitting using your elbows. You'll also want to include glut sets, which means squeezing your buttocks together, and heel slides, which means bringing your knee up by bending it and dragging your heel along the sheet....but you can't go past 90 degrees of this.

ly, the hip patients seem to have a good deal less pain, and get going right away, particularly when allowed full weight bearing. There are a lot more variations in hip surgery though, so you'll have specific things you need to do.....us knees are more or less a double resurfacing, which has been a good, but hurting, proceedure for many years.

y