What To Expect After Knee Surgery
Posted on: 14 January 2021
If you injured your knee while playing sports, your doctor may want to perform surgery on your knee. You will be given general anesthesia or an epidural. General anesthesia will put you under, while an epidural will stop you from feeling anything from the waist down. Knee surgery will usually last for two hours. After it is finished, you will be put in recovery for a few hours. Here is what you can expect immediately following the surgery.
Get Moving
A physical therapist will be assigned to you. Your physical therapist will help you to move your ankles so that the blood can flow. They will help you to walk. The sooner you get your muscles used to moving around again, the better.
Medication
One of the things that you will not be able to avoid is feeling pain. You will be switched from an IV to medication that you take by mouth after your surgery. From then on you can resume your regular diet. You should be able to go to the bathroom as long as you have help. Your physical therapist will still be working with you at this point. It is at this stage that you will be asked to look out for signs that there is an infection.
Taking a Shower
By the time the third day of your surgery rolls around, your surgical wound should be healed enough for you to have a shower. Ask your doctor if it is okay for you to remove the dressing when you shower. If you can, make sure that you pat the wound dry when you have finished showering. Place a new dressing on the wound immediately after your shower is done. Make sure that you do not rub the wound with any lotion that your doctor did not prescribe. In about two weeks, the staples and stitches will be removed from the wound. If you are a fan of taking baths or going swimming, you can do that once the stitches have been removed.
After getting surgery for a knee injury, you may be a bit apprehensive about what happens next. However, the best thing you can do is start moving and stick to regular physical therapy sessions. If you notice anything odd, tell your doctor immediately so that you can prevent infection. Do not push yourself too much — just let things progress naturally, and you should be on your feet in no time.
To learn more, contact a sports injury physician.
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