Despite her brief moment of smiling in the photo, Janaye is “over this.” She self-reports this surgery as the most difficult one that she has had to date. Recall that Janaye has had many, many knee surgeries. (Read our previous posts: Part 1 & Part 2).
Here are a few interesting points in regards to her progress:
1. Janaye can now place about twenty (20) pounds of weight through the leg in stance. She is still not allowed to fully bear weight. You can see from the photo that she is placing enough weight on her left leg to allow the foot to flatten on the floor. She will begin the transition to full weight bearing on January 19th. Hooray!
2. Both Janaye and Dana (her treating PT) have noticed that since her surgery, she has a decreased valgus angle at the knee. This could possibly be due to the lack of weight bearing through the leg, as gravity tends to apply joint forces down through the leg and place stress on the supporting ligaments. A second explanation could be that much of her surgical work was done through the medial aspect of her joint. This may have created some scar tissue on the medial side, and could result in an increased tightening of the medial aspect of the knee.
3. Janaye is up to 125° of knee flexion. She looks like she is about to jump off the table when she is stretched during PT. Janaye asserts that she is simply not able to perform this type of stretching by herself, which she cites as one major difference between this surgery and her past surgeries.
4. Take a look at Janaye’s crutches. These crutches actually have a suspension, or piston type feature in the base that allows for some shock absorption as she walks. One interesting note: When it gets cold outside, the spring mechanisms in the crutches stiffen up and are less comfortable.
For a quick read in regards to meniscal debridement surgery rehab, be sure to read this article: Meniscus Surgery: What Can I Expect?
Continue reading about Janaye’s progress with Janaye’s Meniscus Transplant Saga Continues.
Read the series:
1. Meniscal Replacement Surgery
2. Meniscal Transplant, Part 2
3. Meniscal Transplant: Janaye Is “Over This”
4. Janaye’s Meniscus Transplant Saga Continues
5. Weight Bearing & Dynamic Balance Training
6. Janaye’s Final Meniscal Blog Update!
I tore my labrum from 12 to 5 o clock, they went in arthroscopically to repair it on Dec. 27th. I have 4 anchors in my shoulder. I started PT about a week after operation, I was wondering if I am beginning therapy to quickly? They don’t have me using the shoulder muscles to move the arm but have me use pulleys, canes, etc. to get movement of the joint. Also, when can I take my sling off to sleep?
I would say that your PT is a bit early, but it doesn’t sound like what they are doing is too aggressive. I wish I knew why certain docs start PT earlier than other docs. The sling time frame is up to the doc. Ask him or her. Remember that it takes six weeks for those anchors to fully heal into place.
I am looking forward to reading more from your blog on Janaye’s meniscal transplant rehab journey. I just had a lateral meniscal transplant 5 days ago. Your last entry was on January 6, 2017. How has her progress been since then? I love the blog!
Janaye was down here in the clinic yesterday, she is doing awesome. I will talk with her at length again and get some more follow up information for a “final” blog for her case.