Moder-dye wrote:I had 2 lots of steroid shots on the run up to my op and thought they didn't really help much, that is until when I couldn't have any more 3 months before the op (one consultant said he'd want 6 months after and injection) I realised how much they had been helping really.
I tried a flat walk yesterday to a local view point as we had a clear spell (5.5km total) and I'm suffering today. Obviously too much for it still, despite going steady and having sits.
Pre-op, I think the steroid injections definitely help. I have them in my non-replaced knee every three months. By about 2 1/2 months after an injection, I start to feel much higher levels of pain but by that time it is only a couple of weeks to the next injection. (I am probably about 1 year off having the second knee replaced).
Post-op, my first "walk" was to the bus stop, perhaps 100 yards. I thin upped it to about half a mile to the cafe, sit down for an hour, then walked home. I did this for a few weeks.
I didn't set myself any targets, as my mind does not respond to targets. But one day came along when I felt a little more energetic, so I did a mile-long walk non-stop (but slowly) in the park, and I felt fine. Partly though it was maybe psychological, because it was a nice spring day!
After that I gradually increased my walks in the park day by day, depending on how I felt. At that point I was still using the curved handle wooden walking sticks that the hospital gave me. (I still use them - for a couple of days after each time I have the steroid injection).
You have a good level of general fitness, and that helps a lot, I think. I am not particularly fit - but, comparing myself to people in my physio class who were much more unfit than me, I noticed that they were making slower progress than I was.
Tim
