Once you are home, you can take 600 mg of Ibuprofen (Advil/Motrin) every 6 hours to help with inflammation and pain. This medication will help cut down the use of narcotic-based pain medication. However, if you still have pain after taking the Ibuprofen, continue taking the pain medication every 4-6 hours as needed.
After approximately 2-3 weeks we will begin use of non-narcotic pain medication as necessary which includes extra strength Tylenol and NSAIDs like advil, aleve, and ibuprofen.
Ibuprofen, the most frequently prescribed NSAID, is effective in reducing acute postoperative pain. However, ibuprofen may be associated with various serious adverse events, including death, cardiovascular morbidity, gastrointestinal ulcer, and renal impairment.
Those offered by prescription are meloxicam (Mobic), voltaren (Diclofenac), indomethacin (Indocin) and celecoxib (Celebrex). Over-the-counter medications are ibuprofen or naproxen (such as Advil, Motrin or Aleve). Aspirin may be used to decrease the risk of developing a blood clot.
NSAIDs alone, however, will not relieve the moderate to severe pain you may have after surgery. Traditional NSAIDs block the actions of both COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes, which is why they can cause stomach upset and bleeding, and are associated with ulcers. Aspirin and ibuprofen are common traditional NSAIDs.
After your surgery, do not take any anti-inflammatory medicines, such as Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), Naprosyn (Aleve), and prescription anti-inflammatories, unless your surgeon prescribes them. Do not start taking these medicines until your doctor says it is okay. You may take Tylenol unless you are told not to do so.
The investigators concluded that ibuprofen effectively manages pain due to fracture in children. Additionally, using ibuprofen doesn't impair fracture healing.
You may expect the swelling to last 3-12 months or so, and during this period it will gradually diminish rapidly. Walking and gentle exercise will help. The bruising, which may look dramatic, but is of no clinical importance, will not last as long.
Your body just went through a major surgery and needs time to heal. Most people can resume daily activities with reduced pain approximately three to six weeks after surgery. Full recovery can take anywhere from four months to a year.
Icing and elevation
Continue using ice packs or some form of cold therapy to help reduce swelling. For knee replacement, you will need to elevate the leg to help reduce swelling. It is important to elevate the entire leg, down to the ankle. When elevating, your feet should be above the level of your heart.
After your knee replacement, it's important to stick with the recommended physical therapy plan and continue challenging yourself without overexerting your healing knee. Following an exercise regime can also reduce swelling, increase your range of motion and strengthen your body.
Balancing movement with getting enough rest is necessary to heal from knee replacement surgery. For the first few months, you may have some mild-to-moderate swelling of the affected knee. Getting the appropriate rest and keeping your leg elevated, as well as applying ice, can help boost healing time.
Knee stiffness is a complication that may occur. Treatment options include aggressive physical therapy, manipulation under anesthesia, surgical removal of scar tissue, and revision knee replacement. Your surgeon will decide which treatment is best for your unique needs.
"Over-the-counter pain relievers can provide short-term relief, but they don't treat the cause of your joint pain," explains Dr. Fackler. "They simply reduce or manage your perception of it instead.
Long term use of ibuprofen and other NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) to alleviate the symptoms of osteoarthritis, it seems, actually make cartilage quality, joint inflammation and knee pain worse.
Over-the-counter medications — such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) and naproxen sodium (Aleve) — may help ease knee pain. Some people find relief by rubbing the affected knee with creams containing a numbing agent, such as lidocaine, or capsaicin, the substance that makes chili peppers hot.
Can you sleep on your side after knee replacement surgery? You can, but it's wise not to do so until at least a few weeks after surgery, when you can start bending your knee. Make sure you lay on your non-operative side. Sleeping this way makes sure no pressure falls on the knee you had surgery on.
Staying still in the same position will also cause your knee joints to stiffen up. Another reason could be related to how your brain perceives pain and this may change in the small hours. Your perception of pain is more pronounced at night or to put it another way your pain thresholds are lower at night.
The first two to three weeks post-op is generally the time patients feel most discouraged due to the pain. It's hard to get up from a chair, it's difficult going up and down stairs, you're moving slowly and you have to use a walker because you have no strength or balance.
This is normal during the early stages of recovery, as the knee experiences swelling which causes temporary stiffness. This should begin to subside within the first month or so after the operation; if it continues to feel stiff or if the stiffness gets worse, contact your surgeon.
You're not alone. Having an orthopedic surgery can leave you feeling tired for weeks or months after the procedure. Here's a list of 7 main causes of fatigue after surgery: surgical stress, blood loss, medications, pain after surgery, energy of healing, dietary changes, and sleep disturbance.
No, in most cases anti-inflammatory drugs (like ibuprofen or naproxen) don't help healing. In fact, in some cases it may even delay healing.
NSAIDs can slow healing
Multiple studies have shown that using NSAIDs can slow the healing of broken bones, damaged ligaments, and other tissues. If you are trying to heal the damage done to a knee, shoulder or other joint, using NSAIDs can significantly lengthen the healing time.
Among these factors, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can inhibit or impair bone healing process because their influence is critical on the stages of healing including inflammation, coagulation and angiogenesis and finally on the clinical outcome.