Jogging after a knee replacement

Fit4LifeAR

I am 36 years old and had a total knee replacement five months ago, after another surgery a year ago determined that injuries in my knee were not fixable. I am getting back on track and walk on the treadmill, use the stationary bike and the elliptical too. I recently started squats, but I am using the smith machine with a lower amount of weight. My form is pretty bad if I don't use it, because my mind doesn't quite trust my new knee yet. Anyhow, does anyone have experience in jogging again after a knee replacement? Of course my doctors say no, but I have read a lot of evidence stating that jogging on a soft surface, like the treadmill, doesn't actually cause early failure of the replacement. Anyone have any experience with this? I miss jogging so much but I am obviously not willing to risk having a second replacement before I have to. Just curious more than anything.

nealpat1

I am 3 years out but have not tried jogging since my doctor also said no. I do a lot of exercises in the water and do a water aerobics class 3 times a week at the local YMCA. I truly think it has helped tremendously with my recovery.

Fit4LifeAR

nealpat1 wrote: »

I am 3 years out but have not tried jogging since my doctor also said no. I do a lot of exercises in the water and do a water aerobics class 3 times a week at the local YMCA. I truly think it has helped tremendously with my recovery.

I totally agree, exercise is so incredibly important when it comes to recovery.

Azdak

I did a brief review after looking at your question. With something like this, in many ways you are in charge of your own recovery. That means doing research and working with your doctors to come to the best decisions for you and your health. As you would expect, research in this area is mixed--with some showing little short term effect, some showing a small positive effect, some showing negative effects. Keep in mind there will be many variables to determine whether or not you could return to some type of running program after TKR-the type of implant, the size/shape of your bones, whether or not you are overweight, your running gait, etc, etc, etc. I would be extremely, extremely wary of anecdotal evidence, case studies, outlier studies, stories from friends, etc. Not only could the details of your anatomy and surgery be different, we are looking at long-term effects here, not "I have been jogging for six months and I feel fine"--that is not evidence. (Sorry if I have repeating things you have already considered).

Bottom line, I don't think there is any evidence that can give you clear guidelines. You have had mechanical parts installed that will eventually wear out. I think the consensus is that a TKR recipient is capable of doing more rigorous activity than previously thought, but that doing some high-impact activities may increase that wear rate. Since we are talking about an effect over many years, I don't think it's possible to know how that will affect a specific individual. Do your research, talk to your doctors, and make the choice you think is best for yourself.

columbus2015

I had a partial replacement about 5 years ago and was warned against impact type activities. I really miss running, but I've learned to enjoy cycling instead.

My understanding is that you can basically do a tkr twice on a knee before you run out of bone to work with, and given how young you are, you're going to have to stretch out the life of them already, so I'd suggest taking darn good care of it while you can.

Fit4LifeAR

columbus2015 wrote: »

I had a partial replacement about 5 years ago and was warned against impact type activities. I really miss running, but I've learned to enjoy cycling instead.

My understanding is that you can basically do a tkr twice on a knee before you run out of bone to work with, and given how young you are, you're going to have to stretch out the life of them already, so I'd suggest taking darn good care of it while you can.

That is what I have been told too, and as much as I miss running, I don't think it's worth the risk. I have really taken on a love of weight lifting, and adding walking or the stair master will be a good addition. Speaking of the stair master, that is the only cardio I have ever done that I can compare to jogging, in terms of its cardiovascular benefits for myself (perhaps not for everyone). I am very excited to get back to that, but I think it will at least another few months. I need to rebuild the strength before I can do stairs, but that is my ultimate goal.