Knee Replacement & Sailing

Easticks28 said:
The most important piece of advice of all. I have met a number of people who complain that their replacement was not as sucessfull as they had hoped, that their movement was restricted.
The common feature to every case was that they found the post op. exercise too painful. As is often said,and never truer than here,
'There is no gain without pain' Sounds harsh, but it's true I'm afraid.
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I was advised to take the pain killers as prescribed and not wait for discomfort. Only problem with that was the weird withdrawal symptoms from Tramadol - for me. cold turkey was NOT a good idea! Yes, it was painful and getting the bend angle to increase was hard as was rebuilding the muscles. I can kneel but definitely cannot sit on my heels but I keep trying.
 
Well, I wasn't expecting so many replies, or such helpful advice! Many thanks to all who've responded so far. Perhaps it says something about the average age, and lifetime activity levels of the forum?!
The majority seem to be on the "go for it" route, but its a difficult decision to make when you can get away with living with it, albeit with limited activities. Part of the trouble is that making the decision to go for the op. is only the start of the waiting list!
Someone asked my BMI, i'm 5'8" and 12 stone. Played rugby for 20 years, done weight training all my life, and kickstarted reluctant british motorbikes for just as long, so my situation is no surprise really! I find priorities change, I no longer need to do a 10k jog every week, but do need to be able to push my grandchildren's prams.
Anybody had their replacement ops in Gobowen hospital? (where I had my meniscus ops)
Captain Haddock- are the half knees a partial op? Sounds very succesful though.
Alex in cornwall- if I knew at 36 what I know now, i'd have stopped doing squats in the gym!!
Again, thanks to all for advice, and a good dose of hope.
 
Interesting thread - I'm 75 and was to see the consultant in April about a knee but covid 19 stopped that. Just had yesterday a new telephone consultation for early July. I've been taking one ibuprofen and so far that helps.
 
alla_breve said:
Captain Haddock- are the half knees a partial op? Sounds very succesful though.
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Not sure what you mean by "partial op"! It is a lesser op than full knee replacements, less scarring (smaller wounds) and it was done under epidural, so that made for a faster recovery. An advantage of having both knees done at one go is that I didn't have a "good leg" to stand on!
 
If you only have OA on one side of the knee, and are fit and perhaps under c75 go for unicompartmental, but IIRC you said both menisci were duff. My short answer is that knee replacements are good. But not quite as good as the original.
 
awol said:
I was advised to take the pain killers as prescribed and not wait for discomfort. Only problem with that was the weird withdrawal symptoms from Tramadol - for me. cold turkey was NOT a good idea! Yes, it was painful and getting the bend angle to increase was hard as was rebuilding the muscles. I can kneel but definitely cannot sit on my heels but I keep trying.
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Tramadol is weird stuff. I used to warn punters that it was a Marmite drug. They might be great; they might be less than useless. (i.e. Not work and give you side effects too.)
 
I injured my knee in a fall back in 2017, aged 50. Following deterioration, I had a partial knee replacement last April 2019, at 52.

In fairness I had moved away from Sailing to Mobo a few years earlier, but boating and boat handling, as skipper, in general have been fine. Even bought a rib this year as a plaything alongside the mother ship.

Kneeling in the engine room can be sore, but nothing dramatic.

It took me about six weeks to be fully mobile after the surgery, although I was back on the boat pottering at three weeks. Automatic car helped. Possibly helped I am a yoga teacher, so had relatively good fitness going into the surgery.

I've had some post op complications over the winter, and my surgeon was due to have a look inside with a camera and take some swollen synovial lining out - of course hospital closures have put pay to that for now, hoepfully later in the summer. From what we can tell from x-ray the replacement itself is fine, its some swelling in the lining of the joint. But even with this, many fold improvement on the pre surgery position. I walked around the Isle of Wight last summer, and I can still manage a ten mile hike with the complications.

HTH
 
FWIW, the hospital is actually the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital. It has a long history in the world of Orthopaedics and it is one of a few dedicated Orthopaedic Centres in the UK. They should know how to do a knee replacement

My note of caution in these discussions is to remember that a knee replacement is not at gearbox. If things go wrong, its not a matter of simply fitting another one the same. No operation is without risk of complications and you are "young" for a knee replacement. It may not last forever. If you can put off having it done, then it is more likely to last you a lifetime. I do not think anyone has mentioned Durlane injection rather than rushing into surgery. Something to ask your surgeon about perhaps.

TS
 
Knowing that my long-term sailing mate had had knee operations I asked him if he would like to send me his observations to pass on. He sent this:

I am now 82 years old and had a full knee replacement back in 2002, following an earlier unsuccessful arthroscopy.
This intervention I found both painful and totally ineffective; a not uncommon experience, I have heard.

Having previously had a hip replacement, I would say that the operative pain levels are about the same, but in both cases the disappearance of the underlying joint pain was felt immediately.

I would agree entirely that rigorous application to physiotherapeutic programmes definitely yields early results and like some of the other correspondents, I too was told that I would probably not be able to kneel properly again. However, over the course of about a year, I found that I was able to kneel on both knees without any great discomfort and I have about 100 degrees of flexure. roughly the same in both knees, although getting up again is a bit more difficult than it used to be, I guess certain muscles are not as strong as they used to be.

I currently am able to work my garden, including digging and suchlike activities. I ride both cycles and motor cycles do from time to time walk a few km at a brisk pace. On the subject of anaesthesia, I personally prefer a total knockout, I really don't want to know what is going on and talking to some people who have had epidural aesthetics it can be a painful process in itself. On the subject of sailing , apart from the aforementioned awkwardness in getting up from a kneeling position, I don't find any problems on board and can jump onto a pontoon without any pain: I'm not in the habit of going up the mast, so can't comment on that act
 
tudorsailor said:
FWIW, the hospital is actually the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital. It has a long history in the world of Orthopaedics and it is one of a few dedicated Orthopaedic Centres in the UK. They should know how to do a knee replacement

My note of caution in these discussions is to remember that a knee replacement is not at gearbox. If things go wrong, its not a matter of simply fitting another one the same. No operation is without risk of complications and you are "young" for a knee replacement. It may not last forever. If you can put off having it done, then it is more likely to last you a lifetime. I do not think anyone has mentioned Durlane injection rather than rushing into surgery. Something to ask your surgeon about perhaps.

TS
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When I had my replacement at 36, my age was obviously an important consideration but as my surgeon rightly stated (I hope!), there’s little evidence of replaced knees wearing out as most patients die a long time before the knee does. I don’t mean to be morbid, but if it needs doing and you’ve got a lot of life in front of you, I’d suggest cracking on!
 
But what he failed to tell you was that most people having replacements are in their 70’s so that statement is true for them. As a general rule an initial TKR or THR, done well, will last about 15 yrs. There is, however, a correlation with the skill level of the surgeon (which usually correlates with the number they do); choose well.
 
Life span of artificial hips is a subject near to my heart. My sister had a total hip replacement 32 years ago: she’s just had a new one fitted. My wife also had a replacement fitted 20 years ago: it’s birthday was celebrated a couple of weeks back. She has no problems with hers and it’s monitored every two years: she’s been told to expect at least another ten years of life from the joint.
I know that the old expectation for a hip joint was often given as 10-15 years but that seems to have been overtaken by experience. The majority of trouble with replacement joints is the bone they’re bonded to: I seem to recall seeing something about an active lifestyle in a younger person would lead to better overall health and thus improved longevity for the joint.
My brother has recently had a knee replacement. He’d been in pain for years and finally took the plunge and his almost immediate declaration afterwards was along the lines of why didn’t I do this years ago..... He had his op done at RJAH, as did my sister: can’t recommend them highly enough. They’ve been at the forefront of this sort of surgery for years. Oh, and they looked after my daughter and her distinctly dodgy hips as well: she travels there from Cornwall every couple of years for monitoring.
 
Hacker said:
But what he failed to tell you was that most people having replacements are in their 70’s so that statement is true for them. As a general rule an initial TKR or THR, done well, will last about 15 yrs. There is, however, a correlation with the skill level of the surgeon (which usually correlates with the number they do); choose well.
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Choose well! For most of us chance would be a nice thing!
 
Hacker said:
But what he failed to tell you was that most people having replacements are in their 70’s so that statement is true for them. As a general rule an initial TKR or THR, done well, will last about 15 yrs. There is, however, a correlation with the skill level of the surgeon (which usually correlates with the number they do); choose well.
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It’s my understanding that the expected working life of artificial knees was 15 years or so for a number of years, which is why surgery for TKN was set at 60 years.

I understand that recent advances in materials and design have a life of 20-25/years, and as a result, surgeons are increasingly happy to,do,the procedure on patients in their 50s.

As I said earlier in this thread my wife had a TKR 4 years ago.
The joint is fine but the pOsterior cruciate ligament has failed and she is going to need a replacement of the whole thing with one of a different design
 
Long-John Saliva said:
Tramadol is weird stuff. I used to warn punters that it was a Marmite drug. They might be great; they might be less than useless. (i.e. Not work and give you side effects too.)
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I had to request to come off Tramadol, I felt permanently high. Ended up on Zapain but doctor refused to carry on giving me these saying they were mind altering drugs. Didn’t take them often but when I did Pink Floyd sounded even better. On codene now but only ay night if knees keep me awake.
 
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