15 MIN KNEE EXERCISES WEEKS 7-12 AFTER TOTAL KNEE REPLACEMENT OR ACCIDENT | Dr. Amy and Ashley

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- Welcome to weeks 7-12 after your total knee replacement surgery. You're almost there! The first 12 weeks after surgery are critical to ensuring you get the best function possible with your new knee. This video series will take you through the activities and exercises you need to do to make that happen.

First, a little reminder. Your surgery was done in a minimally invasive fashion to help you make a rapid recovery. In addition, robotic guidance with artificial intelligence was used to create a model of your knee joint that was used to pick the perfect implants to give you the best possible range of motion. In the bad old days when legacy surgeons took down muscles and the implants were not the perfect fit recovery required extensive physical therapy and strengthening for six to twelve months. Times have changed. You may choose to engage in physical therapy; but many of our patients have achieved excellent recoveries without it. You should expect to make a complete recovery from surgery in 1-2 weeks, and fully strengthen and “on board” your new knee within 8-12 weeks after the day of surgery.

This video series is led by Dr. Amy Cannatta, DC and Ashley Baratko. Dr. Amy received her Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Chiropractic degrees at the University of Bridgeport College of Chiropractic in 2005. She was specialty certified in Neurodiagnostics at the Palmer College of Chiropractics in Port Orange, Florida in 2018. Dr. Amy has practiced chiropractic medicine in Connecticut as well as Arizona. She joined Phoenix Spine and Joint in 2017. Ashley Baratko has worked for five years as a physical therapy assistant and is applying to enter physical therapy college to study for her doctorate.

The goals for this period of your recovery are first to start returning to light recreational activities such as swimming, brisk walking, light hiking; for golfers this is the time to start chipping and putting. These activities are the last transition before you resume the sports and exercises you liked to do before your knee pain took you out of the game. The second goal is to ensure you have 120 degrees of flexion. Last, it’s important you have good range of motion of your kneecap (patella).

There are no new exercises for this period, but you should raise the difficulty on the exercises you are already doing. Increase the strength of the bands. Work harder and bring greater repetition and intensity to your movements.

How do you know when you should be done with physical therapy after total knee replacement? Not everyone does PT, but if you did, you know you’re done when you’ve reached full strength, have normal range of motion as described in the video, walk without a limp, are free of limiting pain, and can do your own home exercise program.

Complications such as blood clots, infection (urinary tract, pneumonia, surgical site), heart problems or dislocation almost never happen; however, we are always on the lookout for them. It is always better to be safe than sorry. Let your surgeon know if you experience any of the following:

bleeding or drainage from your incision site

Skin redness around the incision that is getting larger

Painful urination

Cough

Chest pain

Shortness of breath

Swelling that does not respond to elevation and compression

Temperature greater than 100.4 sustained over 24 hours

In addition, let your surgeon know if you are unable to do the exercises shown in the video.

At Phoenix Spine and Joint we’ve seen how minimally invasive robotic assisted total knee replacement changes lives. We’re excited for you as you begin your journey. Congratulations on completing the video series.

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