Knee surgery

casatikid

Following an accident at work two years ago and many months of pain and little cycling because of this it’s been decided I need a complete knee replacement.
I’m not a racer but I enjoy distance events etc. Anyone had this operation carried out and were they back to normal cycling within a decent length of time?
Thanks.

steve_sordy

I can't answer that question specifically, but this may help. My mate had a knee replacement and his "torture device" as he termed it whilst in hospital was a device that looked like part of a bike for a one-legged man! While he was laid in bed they strapped his leg into it and switched it on. The angle it bent his knee through and the distance it moved his foot were adjustable (probably the same thing now i think about it). Just when he had got used to it, they increased the angle his knee was bent through. He said it was agony.

The point is that it was a cycling exercise for his knee. He was advised to cycle as much as possible when he got out of hospital. He asked me to accompany him on his first few trips out and he was painfully slow. I could literally cycle rings around him while he pedalled. But within six weeks there was no stopping him!

I would seek medical advice because not everyone is the same, but from the experience of my mate, the more cycling you can do the better and you will recover quickly. The one-legged torture device was to ensure that his knee bent sufficiently far. Some people wimp out and end up with a knee that will never articulate as fully as before.

Oh, and go see a physio! 8)
By all means see the NHS physio, but you will be lucky to get an appointment sooner than six weeks and then only a very few appointments. In that time, your knee could have developed problems. So find a physio and go see them. The cost will be in the region of £35-£50 for a 50 mins session, depending upon where you live and who you see. Ask around for recommendations and start looking now.

Good luck!