Day 26 Complications....

A friend of mine had her knee operation a few weeks before me. She has been unlucky enough to have a adhesion's occur. These are internal scar tissue that can form after an operation. It seems that 3% of knee replacement patients have this happen to them.

If the knee cannot be bent more than 90º, the doctor may decide to perform manipulation. This means that the knee is passively, physically bent while under anaesthetic. This should break down some adhesion's (scar tissue) that might have formed.

My friend was in hospital for 4 days and a "continuous passive motion device" was used to keep the knee moving slowly every day for 12 hours, thereby decreasing the risk of stiffness and loss of motion.

She was given a lot of pain medication but says that it was not something she would recommend !

My physiotherapist tells me that these machines are standard practise in Switzerland after a knee replacement.

This is probably so that they can dance in their lederhosen....