Post-Surgical Knee Swelling
26
Aug
Swollen Knee
Postoperative pain, swelling, and bruising are a normal part of the recovery process following knee surgery. However, there are ways to manage the pain and ease your recovery.
Swelling is also a normal part of the healing process. It’s likely that you’ll experience some swelling for 2 to 3 weeks following surgery. You can reduce swelling by doing your postoperative exercises. Elevating your leg on a pillow in bed for 1 to 2 hours each afternoon will help swelling as well.
According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, swelling can last for 3 to 6 months after surgery.
How we treated
We combine Electro-Medicine, Neuromodulation Therapy, with range of motion exercises as well as, strengthening exercises. What this does is help reduce the swelling, reduce pain, and improve range of motion. Many times this can reduce the level of swelling and the pain substantially. Many patients with persistent swelling, when neuromodulation therapy was introduced, saw a reduction in their pain and a reduction in swelling within a few weeks. Some have more protracted swelling and have required longer periods of time, up to 5 – 6 weeks.
Case in point:
Patient was a 72-year-old male who underwent right knee replacement. Six (6) months after surgery, there was still marked swelling of the right knee, patient had difficulty walking for any long distances without pain, cannot walk up and down stairs, and was woken in the night with pain from his knee. Patient went through a course of physical therapy for 4 months, which he states helped, but the pain and the swelling never fully reduced. He would constantly ice the knee to help control the pain and reduce swelling. If he stopped using ice the swelling increased and the pain increased. His knee was maintained at approximate 7° of flexion and he could not fully extend his right knee.
His orthopedic surgeon had tried draining the knee on 2 separate occasions. The 1st one gave some relief and was partially successful, the 2nd one did not give any relief. The patient was referred for neuromodulation therapy. Neuromodulation therapy was started with passive range of motion and though the patient initially had some discomfort that disappeared within 4 visits. Within 2 weeks, there was a visible reduction of his swelling and both knees look similar in size, however there was still some swelling in the right knee. Therapy was continued and by week 4 all swelling was gone and the patient was able to fully extend his knee. By week 6, patient was able to walk up and down stairs without discomfort, could walk long distances without any pain, and was no longer woken up at night. Patient was then released of care. Please note this is just an example of one patient’s response to therapy, every case is different and every patient responds differently to different types of care. One should not assume that they will get the same response as this patient did.
