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Evening, Anyone here already had either a full or partial knee replacement. After MRI and x rays it seems my knee is failing in that the cartilage is virtually non-existent. Three ACL reconstructions over 24 years have conspired in trashing it. Anyone had either of the above and returned to racing cross-country, cyclo cross and long miles. Not worried about running again so long as I can ride/race a bike and do long walks in the hills.
Cheers,
Matt
Yes had a full replacement about 3 years ago after a rugby injury some years before that.
Main thing is I'm riding roughly what I was riding before; rigid 29er, gravel and road bike on singletrack and road. Longer miles do tend to leave me sore and it takes longer to recover than it used to.
Won't go into the details but it took me longer to get back and had to have follow-up remedial surgery as the replacement didn't go so well. Oh and I also crashed the road bike and broke my collar bone and fractured my hip.
Key thing is to get it done and then physio, physio and more physio! Oh yes and I finally got an ebike just before lockdown after hearing how they can help in recovery. It has and more than that has unexpectedly helped me ride my other bikes more.
Its been easy to forget over the last 3 years that before the replacement I couldn't walk down to the corner shop without it hurting like crap. Embarrassingly I wear a knee pad for every kind of riding but at least I can ride and walk now. Before I could only do one of those things.
Not me, but my Dad. He's had both done, one total one last year, one partial one 8 years ago, both a resounding success.
Before both each he was struggling to walk 1/2 mile without being in pain, couldn't run at all and could only do short stretches on the bike. He now walks 40 miles per week, can do longer road rides and could run if he wanted to (he doesn't!). On both occasions he had the op around lunch time, had 1 night in hospital and walked out (albeit, aided and with a stick) the next afternoon.
It's been a real life changer for him vastly improved his quality of life and he has no regrets. He does occasionally need reminding about how bad they were before the ops, after he commented last week that the older one ached a touch, we pointed out that may be because he'd walked 10 miles the day before and had been on his bike for 3 hours that morning.
Good physio after the op is the key though. His NHS physio was OK, but he felt he needed more regular attention so had 5 or so session with a private one which he felt was really useful. He made sure he followed any program to the letter so his recovery was quicker than many others.
Riding mate had a full replacement early last year. Complete success. Years of rugby and fell running left him hardly able to walk. I was hoping I might at last be quicker than him but no chance, a few months on and he was as quick as ever.
However another bloke we know had it done and he still can't straighten his leg properly after a couple of years.
Evening, Thanks for that. That is encouraging. I don't think I'm far off a full but holding out until it becomes really painful. It seems that getting the physio in early is teh key, and lots of it. Thanks for taking the time to comment though. If all goes well then cyclo cross after 18 months of hard work may be possible then. And definitely mtbing. Thanks all.
Matt