New knee

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bromleybysea

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I had a total knee replacement about 6 weeks ago. All seems to be going well, the psyioterrorists are pleased with my progress and I'm managing most normal activities, albeit with some residual post-operative pain and stiffness. Can I look forward to sailing this summer? I'll move the boat into a marina as I don't think a swinging mooring is practical, but I'd love to hear about other peoples experience of managing a refit and sailing after knee surgery.
 
bromleybysea said:
I had a total knee replacement about 6 weeks ago. All seems to be going well, the psyioterrorists are pleased with my progress and I'm managing most normal activities, albeit with some residual post-operative pain and stiffness. Can I look forward to sailing this summer? I'll move the boat into a marina as I don't think a swinging mooring is practical, but I'd love to hear about other peoples experience of managing a refit and sailing after knee surgery.
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No first-person experience, glad to say. But I have been on charter trips over decades with a chap now 80 y.o. and now living in France who has 3 artificial leg joints. I gather he has some stiffness and I see the hassle at security in airports...

Mike.
 
SWMBO and a friend of hers had them done. \Both doing absiolutely fine, but healing rate, and therefore usability depends very much on the individual. SWMBO reckoned it was a year befroe it was properly healed up, though was using it quite normally within a few months. i.e still some twinges fro a while. Her friend was saying she was fine after 6 - 7 months. Both say you will know when you are doing too much while its still healing!
 
I had mine replaced about 3 maybe 4 years ago. It took a year to get it functioning properly with more than 90° bend and trusting it to go downstairs leading with both legs.
Now it is working well but I can't go on hands and knees without knee pads and I get a bit of pain with side pressure on it.
 
Friend of mine had a new knee in 2016. He had his own boat and was back out inside three months. He is also well back into yacht deliveries and amongst others did Panama to Barcelona last spring and has just done Lanzarote to Panama with me. was home a week and went to Azores, should be arriving Gib shortly.

Keep the faith! And good luck. :encouragement:
 
Never had a knee replacement, but in September 1998 I had a life changing car crash in Germany. As I said when I gave my statement to the police officer " Ich dumkopf-ich faren links! "

My fault entirely. My left patella was in two pieces, one on my thigh, the other on my shin. The lower leg was nearly separated at the knee joint. I was told, in Germany as well as back in the UK, that I would require walking aids for the rest of my life.

The patella was screwed together, also pulled slightly forward by a wire attatched to the shinbone. Physio was all but impossible due to swelling and heat build up caused by the metalwork.

First Mate found the answer. She took me to the local leisure pool, made sure I was changed and in the water by bumping myself on my bum down the kiddies gently shelving beach area, told the duty lifeguard what was going on and left me for an hour. I carried out this regime for four months-untill the wire and screws were removed from the patella/shinbone. The two large screws joining the patells remained.

I found the water supported my weight, allowing me to exercise by walking up and down the shallow end. The water also stopped the swelling and heat generation from the internal metalwork.

I walk fairly normally now, bit of a roll, but no stick or other walking aids.

Personal Hydrotherapy by using a leisure pool might assist those who have had knee replacement surgery get back to normal earlier.

It certainly worked for me..
 
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Was watching an over 80s squash match in the local squash club where one of the blokes was finding the left side of the court a bit tricky. Turned out he had a new wrist, elbow, hip and knee - unbelievable!

It turns out lots of the over-70s have bionic bits and pieces, but...

....as with recovering from any injury, one must, must, must do the recommended physio, and keep doing it to ensure that no compensating injuries set in to otherwise healthy joints and muscles.

Wishing you a happy 2019 afloat :encouragement:
 
I had both done a year past this winter and it didn't stop me sailing last summer. All ok really but my advice would be to concentrate on flexion. My biggest bugbear is that they don't bend enough, the right lagging behind the left. As mentioned, kneeling can be painful without some form of padding.
 
I am a candidate for two new knees, having had a hip done several years ago. I spend a fair amount of time in the gym and have been warned off doing squats with weights but am hoping to be allowed to recommence after surgery.

Even though walking 4 miles or so make my knees sore, I find that they tolerate kettlebell swinging very well.
 
Got mine done, (only the left one) in Jan. and was sailing again that April, been helping boats through the canal here as well for the last few years, pushing lock gates puts a fair bit of stress on it, this winter I have been having a few twinges so perhaps should cut back on the abuse. Main consequences were reducing my walking range to a couple of miles and avoiding steep or rough downhill going, cycling is a lot easier, and I had to make a step to avoid leaping down onto low pontoons when coming alongside. Jumping days are over.
I would add that I benefited greatly from the gym at the weekly 'knee clinic' at the local hospital but some of my contemporaries there seemed to be suffering much more pain for longer.

Another unforeseen consequence was going up the mast, I can no longer grip it hard enough to lift my weight so to do anything up there I am almost a dead weight except for what I can drag up with my hands.
 
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bromleybysea said:
I had a total knee replacement about 6 weeks ago. All seems to be going well, the psyioterrorists are pleased with my progress and I'm managing most normal activities, albeit with some residual post-operative pain and stiffness. Can I look forward to sailing this summer? I'll move the boat into a marina as I don't think a swinging mooring is practical, but I'd love to hear about other peoples experience of managing a refit and sailing after knee surgery.
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Biggest problem I've found is the lack of full flexion making clambering more difficult and the difficulty in kneeling - all depend on the type of joint, the surgeon and you......
 
I had a partial about 14 years ago. Apart from breaking it (twice) and having a different model fitted, it's been trouble free. Prior to the op[, I couldn't walk round a shopping centre for more than half an hour, the summer after the op, I was tramping across the Applecross peninsula and visited the Falls of Glomach (closest vehicular access ~ 5 miles). Go for it.

Pre-op, build up your quads and core, it's not that difficult. Post op, trust the joint. It's hard after a long period when you couldn't but the replacement is a lot stronger.

Also as has been said above WORK ON FLEXION! most people with post op complications have given up on the exercises too soon. Also iInvest in one of those gardener's knee cushions, You'll need it!
 
SWMBO is practically bionic, with a new shoulder, two new knees and a new hip in the last five years. The main drawback has been the time spent hanging about for ops to be scheduled while the pain increased, taking out valuable sailing time.

But she's been nearly as good as new after each op, though she is disinclined to jump and is wary of falls. This mostly affects us during docking. As a result, she now does all the steering when we dock while I run round the deck seeing to warps and fenders, and jumping ashore if necessary. She can still launch the spinnaker from the foredeck though.

With all its handholds she has found the boat quite a favourable environment during recuperation, except for getting on and off, which once was done with the bosun's chair. She was going gentle sailing a couple of months after each knee op, though it took six months until she was fully recovered.
 
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rotrax said:
Never had a knee replacement, but in September 1998 I had a life changing car crash in Germany. As I said when I gave my statement to the police officer " Ich dumkopf-ich faren links! "

My fault entirely. My left patella was in two pieces, one on my thigh, the other on my shin. The lower leg was nearly separated at the knee joint. I was told, in Germany as well as back in the UK, that I would require walking aids for the rest of my life.

The patella was screwed together, also pulled slightly forward by a wire attatched to the shinbone. Physio was all but impossible due to swelling and heat build up caused by the metalwork.

First Mate found the answer. She took me to the local leisure pool, made sure I was changed and in the water by bumping myself on my bum down the kiddies gently shelving beach area, told the duty lifeguard what was going on and left me for an hour. I carried out this regime for four months-untill the wire and screws were removed from the patella/shinbone. The two large screws joining the patells remained.

I found the water supported my weight, allowing me to exercise by walking up and down the shallow end. The water also stopped the swelling and heat generation from the internal metalwork.

I walk fairly normally now, bit of a roll, but no stick or other walking aids.

Personal Hydrotherapy by using a leisure pool might assist those who have had knee replacement surgery get back to normal earlier.

It certainly worked for me..
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Back in 72 I had a car smash, also in Germany, broke Tib Fib Femur and jaw. That's what got me into SCUBA diving, fin swimming is wonderful leg exercise.
Sailing also helped to get the knee going, climbing up from saloon and up and down onto cockpit seat.
 
It may interest folk to know that in 1988 I had my anterior cruciate ligament fixed by Mr Dandy, a pioneer of orthopedic surgery (pre-arthroscope, though he investigate my joint with an arthroscope before giving me a very impressive scar!). There was a patient on the same ward who had been fitted with one of the very first, experimental artificial knee joints. It's amazing that a procedure that was experimental in those days is now routine surgery; many of my older friends have had replacement knee joints.
 
I've known a lot of TKR sailors, including wifey. Mostly, they get by perfectly well but accept some limitations. My wife's difficulty is curling up enough to get into her berth, as well as remembering which leg to use first when clambering, though this is becoming second nature. One sailor, an ex-Lanc pilot, had both knees done a few times and thought nothing of sailing from Christchurch to the Baltic and back each year, aged 79 in a Moody 31, so it can be done. I think the trick is not to be impatient but to press on doggedly.
 
Take your specialists advice but I know two folk with knee replacements (one youngish and one 50's maybe 60's) both of whom recovered quickly enough to be able to do so if they were sailors. The one thing I'd be wary of is the unstable platform a boat at sea provides. Until you've had knee surgery, cracked ribs or similar you don't realise just how hard your entire body works to keep you upright when a boat moves around. I've only had my meniscus (menisci) removed but, though I was walking around and even flying aircraft happily fairly quickly, I found that I tended to stay seated at first unless deliberately moving from one place to another. The other thing I discovered is that you don't notice how often your knee knocks something when sailing a small boat until you've had surgery on it and it really, really brings tears to your eyes...

I'd be optimistic and say that, if your recovery is like the ones I've seen the question is when in summer rather if.
 
grumpy_o_g said:
Take your specialists advice but I know two folk with knee replacements (one youngish and one 50's maybe 60's) both of whom recovered quickly enough to be able to do so if they were sailors. The one thing I'd be wary of is the unstable platform a boat at sea provides. Until you've had knee surgery, cracked ribs or similar you don't realise just how hard your entire body works to keep you upright when a boat moves around. I've only had my meniscus (menisci) removed but, though I was walking around and even flying aircraft happily fairly quickly, I found that I tended to stay seated at first unless deliberately moving from one place to another. The other thing I discovered is that you don't notice how often your knee knocks something when sailing a small boat until you've had surgery on it and it really, really brings tears to your eyes...

I'd be optimistic and say that, if your recovery is like the ones I've seen the question is when in summer rather if.
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Spinlock make some very good kneepads. I can recommend them.
 
I'm in my 10th week post-TKR at the tender age of 72. Recovery to walking was in the 2nd week, cycling the turbo trainer the 7th week though I still can't ankle or power the up stroke. I have been ladder climbing to the boat for the last 2 weeks. I tend to overdo it and swelling and pain results. I was signed off from physio after 3 weeks when I achieved 90° bend.
I have called off from SIPR this year but am entered for Scottish Series and expect a full season with walking to Oban Tesco pain free as a bonus.
Good luck with yours.
 
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