Anti-inflammatory medicines help with healing by reducing swelling and pain. If you will be continuing an anti-inflammatory medicine after leaving the hospital, be aware that these medicines may cause stomach upset for some people. Take the medicine as directed on your prescription.
Pain Medications After Surgery (Non-Narcotics)
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs): NSAIDs are a great option for non-narcotic pain medications, such as ibuprofen (Motrin) and naproxen (Aleve). These medications reduce swelling and pain.
Total Knee Replacement—Example Pain Plan
Anti-inflammatory for minimum of six weeks unless you have a problem taking them (contraindication—such as gastric ulcers, kidney problems or oesophageal reflux).
They inhibit osteoblasts at the endosteal bone surface and also reduce both the immune response and the inflammatory response.
(Mobic, Celebrex, Voltaren, Neurofen & Naprosyn)
Continue to take daily tor 2 weeks after surgery then stop. LYRICA (Pregabalin) taken to reduce pain during your hospital stay as well as the risk of longer term pain after surgery.
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.
Yes, walking can help reduce swelling after knee replacement surgery.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduce swelling and soreness and are often used alone for mild to moderate pain. To manage the moderate to severe pain after surgery, NSAIDs are often used in combination with opioids.
Walking. Proper walking is the best way to help your knee recover. At first, you will walk with a walker or crutches. Your surgeon or therapist will tell you how much weight to put on your leg.
Nerve pain – The surgical incision that is made through the skin and underlying layers to get into the knee joint also cuts through small nerves that pass through these tissues. Commonly this leaves the outer aspect of the knee feeling a bit numb or tingly after surgery, or a feeling of a “tight band” around the knee.
Patients are often instructed not to take ibuprofen and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) before or after surgery because of increased bleeding risk.
The biggest challenge in the early recovery of a TKR (up to 3 months postoperative) is the regaining of knee motion. We will send a physical therapist to your house to help you with the walking, knee exercises, and gentle manipulation of the knee.
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.
Most patients can walk on their own roughly four to eight weeks after knee replacement.
First and foremost, drink plenty of water! Water serves a lot of functions in the body and will be particularly good to reduce swelling after surgery. Many patients wonder if adding more water to the body can only make swelling worse, but the truth is that it really helps with swelling.
Arthroplasty procedures can provide meaningful long-term benefits to patients, but they usually also come with long and arduous recoveries. Massage therapy can play a crucial role in the recovery process. “Post-surgical massage can soothe the guarding reaction of tissues, helping them to return to normal function.
Soft tissue irritation around the knee – The most common pain patients experience that occurs years after a knee replacement will be the soft tissue around the knee. Patients still have multiple tendons, ligaments, and muscles around the knee that may become irritated with varying activities.
One of the most common problems people experience after knee replacement is a stiff knee joint. 1 This can cause difficulty with activities that require a lot of bending, including going down stairs, sitting in a chair, or getting out of a car.
Within 7 to 10 days after your knee replacement, you should be able to get your knee entirely straight/full extension (Fig. 1) (no space between the back of your knee and the table) and you should be able to bend/flex your knee to at least 90 degrees (Fig. 2). 90 degrees is the same thing as a right angle.