[Mary Elliott] In this episode of The Bee’s Knees Podcast, I have the pleasure of speaking with Richard Tienan, who shares his candid journey through knee surgery and the complexities he faced during his recovery. We dive into Richard’s experience, starting from the initial surgery on May 7th, which presented unexpected challenges that led to a manipulation under anesthesia. This procedure was essential for improving his mobility, and Richard reflects on how pivotal it was in his recovery process.

We delve into Richard’s struggles with both bending and straightening his knee, highlighting how he found particular comfort in the X10’s monitoring capabilities. His revelation that he reached a remarkable 123 degrees of knee flexion within three weeks of his surgery illustrates an inspiring turnaround, especially after hitting a plateau at 110 degrees prior to his manipulation. Richard discusses both the emotional highs and the physical discomfort of this journey, stressing the significance of resilience and the role of goals in rehabilitation.

In addition to Richard’s story, we explore the supportive role of his wife, Patty, and emphasize how having a support system can make a notable difference in recovery. Through her encouragement and the advice from his telemedicine coach, Richard stayed focused and driven. This episode provides practical tips and shared experiences that can guide anyone facing similar surgical challenges. Richard’s journey exemplifies the power of determination, the importance of professional guidance, and the necessity of tools like the X10 in recovering mobility post-surgery.

The episode wraps up with Richard sharing valuable insights to motivate others undergoing knee surgery. His suggestion to massage the thigh during therapy sessions to alleviate discomfort is particularly noteworthy, showcasing adaptation and resourcefulness. As Richard now looks forward to returning to previously enjoyed activities, including flying, he leaves listeners with an uplifting message about reclaiming freedom and joy in daily life. This episode serves as an essential resource for anyone navigating the complexities of knee surgery, offering hope, practical advice, and the reassurance that positive outcomes are possible with the right tools and support.

[Mary Elliott] In this episode, I speak with Dawn, who shares her personal journey navigating the challenges of knee replacement surgery and the hurdles she faced during her recovery. Dawn, only 55 years old, initially experienced a meniscus tear and osteoarthritis, which led her orthopedic surgeon to recommend a knee replacement to prevent further issues down the line. Despite her initial reservations about being so young for such a procedure, she chose to move forward, seeking relief from her increasing pain.

As our conversation unfolds, Dawn reveals that after a manipulation under anesthesia, which was necessary due to the stiffness and scar tissue buildup in her knee, she discovered the X10 machine. This device promised a gentler approach to therapy compared to traditional methods that left her in pain. Once she started using the X10, her progress transformed dramatically. With its programmed gentle movements, she was able to achieve improved flexibility in a supportive manner.

Reflecting on her experience with the X10, Dawn highlights the significant progress she made in just a few weeks. From starting at 55 degrees of flexion post-manipulation, she reached an impressive 110 degrees shortly after, which was a major milestone for her. The emotional and physical journey culminated in her ability to walk her daughter down the aisle without assistance, a moment deeply cherished amidst her recovery challenges.

Dawn’s story is one of resilience, determination, and the importance of finding the right tools for recovery. She advocates for the X10 machine, emphasizing that its gradual approach to motion can significantly aid those struggling with post-surgical rehabilitation. As we wrap up, she encourages others facing similar hardships to remain open-minded and proactive in seeking out effective solutions that can help reclaim their independence and quality of life. Her journey illustrates that sometimes, the right tool can make all the difference in promoting healing and regaining autonomy.

In this episode of The Bee’s Knees, I have the privilege of hosting Chuck, who shares his transformative journey through total knee replacement and subsequent challenges he faced with recovery. Chuck’s story underscores the complexities of knee surgery and rehabilitation, and it’s a vital conversation for anyone facing similar challenges. He recounts that his surgery in April initially seemed routine, but soon spiraled into a hurdle-ridden path marked by complications like excessive scar tissue and pain.

Chuck delves into details about his misgivings at the start and how the X10 machine fundamentally shifted his experience, enabling him to engage with the rehabilitation process on his own terms. The therapy allowed him to perform sessions multiple times a day while receiving real-time guidance from his coach, Candice. This personalized support proved to be instrumental in recalibrating his expectations and accelerating his progress, eventually leading to a breakthrough session where he achieved an impressive 120 degrees of flexion. Furthermore, he emphasizes that having control over his recovery without the excessive pain typically associated with rehabilitation has been a game changer.

The discussion transitions to Chuck’s reflections on his initial decision to undergo knee replacement surgery. He shares heartfelt advice for potential patients, stressing the necessity of patience and persistence. Emphasizing that even though the surgical path is daunting, the rewards can be life-changing, he endorses the value of being informed and seeking additional resources like X10 therapy to enhance recovery. Chuck’s optimistic approach, despite the setbacks, serves as an inspiring reminder that the journey of healing, particularly after major surgery, is often fraught with obstacles but can ultimately lead to the lifestyle and activity levels one aspires to regain.

As this episode concludes, Chuck’s story not only provides insights into the importance of innovative rehabilitation solutions but also highlights the role of community support in navigating the often-overwhelming journey of recovery. I hope his experience resonates with listeners and offers encouragement, reminding them that they are not alone in their struggles and that with the right tools and support, recovery is indeed possible.

The composition of the swelling that occurs in the knee depends on how long it’s been there. The longer the swelling is in the knee the more likely you will have to deal with stiffness. If you’ve ever noticed you can push on someone’s skin and it stays ‘dipped’, those patients have a lot more protein in that fluid. And so what happens as you get that fluid in the knee structure that supports it (the joint capsule,) it swells like a balloon. Swelling and scar tissue after knee replacement are the two biggest challenges you will face.

So the more swelling that’s in that knee, the tighter the balloon gets. Once that balloon gets too tight, you have a significant limit in how much you can move your knee. When that happens, you don’t move your knee because it hurts, it’s uncomfortable, so you keep it still. Keeping it still only creates kind of this vicious cycle. Now it doesn’t move, so you can have scar tissue start to set up.

Anytime you put your body in a certain comfortable position and then you start to move out of that position, everything’s like, oh wait a minute, that doesn’t feel so good. And that’s also what’s happening in a fresh knee joint, especially immediately following surgery. Those structures are not happy that they’ve been disturbed. They like to be where they are. They don’t want to be cut, and that has all happened with the surgery. The body’s natural system says, “I’m going to limit how much motion I want this knee to have, and so I’m going to send the swelling in.”

Fibrosis is another way to look at scar tissue. It’s ‘scar tissue plus.’ You can kind of think of the tissue surrounding the knee like spider webs. And so we can move the knee joint a little bit, or the shoulder, or whatever joint it happens to be, and we can break those spider webs, and we can get some range of motion back.

With fibrosis the tissue is more like duct taping the joint. The components that make up something that’s fibrotic versus something that’s strict scar tissue is that the tissue is a little bit more intense. The tissue is stronger, the tensile strength is stronger. It’s thicker. So fibrosis compared to kind of what I would consider normal scar tissue is just really kind of ‘scar tissue on steroids,’ and it’s a lot harder to break through. Usually those with this thicker scar tissue are the people that need the Manipulation Under Anesthesia (see: Julie Avoids an MUA) because they’ve had that fibrotic tissue start to set in, and so that’s the difference really between kind of general scar tissue and something that’s gone fibrotic.

You may have seen people that have those really big, bumpy kind of gnarly looking scars. Those patients are more likely to have that same kind of body response on the inside. Fibrosis depends on genetics, it depends on how long you want to sit still for, it depends on things like: ‘I had a knee replacement, and then I had an injection, and then I had another knee replacement.’ So if you have some or all of these other factors, that limit your ability to move that joint, you’re going to get that fibrosis a lot faster. And so the ‘when and the why’ of fibrosis kind of combine, and based on genetics and these other extenuating circumstances recovery can be more challenging. Certainly the less you move the knee, the less frequently you move the knee, the more likely you are to build in that kind of block, and it really feels like a block.

I think the X10 helps prevent scar tissue in general.  If we can prevent general scar tissue, we certainly can prevent scar tissue on steroids, when you talk about something like a fibrosis, because you get in and you get moving early. We’ve had physicians who love the progress of their patients so much, they don’t want to put the CPM in the hospital, they want to bring X10 into the hospital, okay? And that’s amazing, to take someone who’s an orthopedic surgeon who’s been an orthopedic surgeon for a long time, who’s relied on the CPM for a long time and have them say, “I don’t want to do that anymore. I like the X10. I like how it works so much, I’m going do it even sooner. I want that patient on the X10 the hour after they come out of surgery or in those kinds of parameters.”

And so X10 as far as preventing fibrosis I think is absolutely what it does. But beyond that, I think if you have a patient that has fibrosis in their knee, or has some kind of a contracture, you can also bring X10 in in that situation, because of the ability to alter the hold times on the machine. On the X10 you can hold in a challenging but not painful position for three seconds, or for longer than that. With the fibrotic joint, I just need to hold longer. So even if a joint is fibrotic, we may not have to worry about a manipulation.

In those situations, whether it’s preventing the fibrosis or taking the fibrosis and trying to kind of break through it and get some more stretching out of it, I think is very possible to succeed using the X10. And I think we’ve seen it, certainly in the prevention stages … in the prevention stages, and we’re just starting now to kind of use it in patients that have contractures and have fibrotic joints to see how well it works in those situations. And it’s certainly not just for total knees. We’ve seen young kids with ACLs, young athletes. We’ve used it on a variety of different patients. It was created to help patients who had a total knee replacement, but I tell my physicians, I tell my patients, if you have an issue with your knee and range of motion is a problem, let’s start here.

Contracture is a shortening of the muscle itself. So, fibrosis is something that sets up, like we talked about, as a spiderweb, and it connects bone to bone. Contracture is an actual shortening of the muscle, the tendon, because it’s been in a short position for so long. You know that whole ‘use it or lose it?’ That’s real. That really happens. And so if you don’t move that muscle, it’s going to contract, it’s going to stay short, because that’s all it ever had to do. And that’s why sometimes strengthening after a knee replacement takes longer, because you most likely didn’t have that range of motion before surgery.

And when you ask them to start working again it takes a little bit of time for them to remember what their goal was, what their target was, what their job is.

If we can get that range of motion faster, we can get those muscle fibers to start firing a lot faster. And certainly in our patients that get to outpatient with the X10 in a clinic, who really were significantly limited in their range of motion prior, we see that strengthening over that longer range happens faster, Because with the X10 we can focus specifically on this particular range, and be very accurate with it because of how we can set the X10 machine.

Scar tissue and swelling after knee replacement are the biggest challenges for most patients. Do your homework and make a plan for your recovery. With a good physical therapist and the right approach to recovery you will get back to your life in no time.

We call it a “Meta-Blog” because we step back and give you a broad perspective on all aspects of knee health, surgery and recovery and such subjects as Understanding Swelling and Scar Tissue After Knee Replacement. Voted Top 10 Knee Blog of 2018.

In this one-of-a-kind blog we gather together great thinkers, doers, writers related to Knee Surgery, Recovery, Preparation, Care, Success and Failure. Meet physical therapists, coaches, surgeons, patients, and as many smart people as we can gather to create useful articles for you. Whether you have a surgery upcoming, in the rear-view mirror, or just want to take care of your knees to avoid surgery, you should find some value here. Executive Editor: PJ Ewing ([email protected])

by Mike Wyckoff

My name is Mike Wyckoff. I underwent total knee replacement surgery (which included a lateral release) on May 18. Here’s the story of the XIO Knee Machine and how it affected my life. 

My post-op recovery had been very difficult. I was using the routine CPM (continuous passive motion) machine three times a day for two hours each session. And my knee had swollen almost to the size of a bowling ball. I saw the doctor for the first time two weeks after my surgery.

He was surprised to see so much swelling. He told me to stop all physical therapy for a few days to rest my knee. I then began a full PT regime with a therapist three days a week. And I rigorously followed all instructions to perform several exercises at home every day. I never missed a day, and I pushed hard. I still had much residual swelling, and a large hematoma on the side of my knee where the lateral release was performed. 

Five weeks after my knee replacement surgery, I had severe prostatitis and had to be hospitalized for IV antibiotics. Fortunately, the bacterial infection did not affect my knee replacement. This was thanks to the quick, diligent response from my surgeon and an infectious disease specialist. But I lost nearly two weeks of real physical therapy, and my knee was not progressing in its extension and flexion.

Ten weeks out from surgery, the orthopedic surgeon said we needed to schedule an MUA (manipulation under anesthesia). He said he was concerned that in my case, the manipulation might be counterproductive considering my post-op difficulties with such intense swelling. Nevertheless, my MUA was scheduled for the next week. My wife came home from our doctor appointment, prayed, and went to the internet to search ‘alternatives to MUA.’ The X10 machine popped up. She spoke with PJ Ewing (while I was at PT). And when I returned home, limping in the door from my PT, she asked me to look at the on the internet site and call PJ. To say the least, I was skeptical, exhausted, and discouraged. 

I spoke with PJ and he said a machine could be sent to my home. But it would be five days in arriving. My MUA was scheduled in seven days. PJ said they could get an X10 to Georgia by the next day. I have a nephew who lives in Georgia. So my wife and I got in the car, drove almost all night to Georgia. We met the technician who delivered the X10 to my nephew’s home the following day. I used the X10 for four days in Georgia and, with PJ’s consent, took it back to Oklahoma. I then asked for an appointment with my doctor the day before my scheduled MUA. 

The orthopedic surgeon was shocked at my progress and cancelled the MUA. I had progressed in my flexion from 96 degrees to 112 degrees, and my extension was also much improved. By the time I saw the surgeon again ten days later, my flexion was at 125 degrees and my extension was at O degrees. God answered our prayers, I avoided the MUA, and my knee continues to improve daily. 

From Dave Lahmann, who delivered the XIO to my nephew’s home in Georgia and showed me how to properly to use it, to his wife (and my recovery coach) Tricia, who provided excellent advice and timely encouragement throughout my time with The X10 to the entire support staff – all were wonderfully instrumental in the success I had.

And PJ, not enough thanks can be spoken for his understanding of my struggle and his flexibility in allowing me to transport this machine back to Oklahoma.

Finally, I cannot speak enough praise for the X10 machine. It is like a progressive, controlled, measured manipulation, rather than an MUA administered in a few minutes in surgery by the doctor. With the machine, I gradually broke up the scar tissue without increasing swelling at all. Further, the discomfort of “pushing to the next degree” of flexion was accompanied by absolutely no residual pain. It was truly amazing.

I offer the strongest encouragement to anyone to try this machine. Just maybe, the X10 will be the answer to your prayers too!

We call it a “Meta-Blog” because we step back and give you a broad perspective on all aspects of knee health, surgery and recovery and such subjects as knee replacement recovery gone wrong. Voted Top 10 Knee Blog of 2018.

In this one-of-a-kind blog we gather together great thinkers, doers, writers related to Knee Surgery, Recovery, Preparation, Care, Success and Failure. Meet physical therapists, coaches, surgeons, patients, and as many smart people as we can gather to create useful articles for you. Whether you have a surgery upcoming, in the rear-view mirror, or just want to take care of your knees to avoid surgery, you should find some value here. Executive Editor: PJ Ewing ([email protected])

In this episode of The Bee’s Knees, I engage in a conversation with Becky Hart, who recently navigated the challenging journey of total knee replacement surgery. Becky, equipped with a PhD in chemistry, brings a unique analytical perspective to her recovery process, sharing insights that can help others on a similar path. We delve into the difficulties she faced post-surgery, particularly during her physical therapy sessions, which she felt were too aggressive and left her in considerable pain. This experience propelled her to seek alternative solutions, ultimately leading her to discover X10 therapy, a treatment that changed the course of her recovery.

Becky is keen to impart her hard-earned knowledge to anyone considering knee replacement surgery. Her advice veers towards preemptive action—setting up the X10 therapy in advance of the surgery to hit the ground running upon returning home. She underscores the urgency of early movement to prevent complications like scar tissue buildup. Our discussion shifts towards practical steps listeners should take, including consulting with their surgeons and potentially advocating for insurance coverage to make therapy more accessible. Becky’s conviction is clear: the investment in a healthy knee is invaluable and can pay dividends in terms of quality of life.

As we conclude the episode, Becky reflects on the transformative nature of her journey and the gratitude she feels for overcoming her challenges. The conversation serves as both a source of encouragement and a call to action for others to remain hopeful and proactive in their recovery processes. This episode encapsulates not only the potential hurdles of knee surgery but also highlights the successful strategies that can lead to a more resilient and empowered recovery experience.

We are pleased to share this interview from The Bee’s Knees Podcast and KNEE RADIO 1. We share the account of Dianne Smith’s recovery after total knee replacement. Dianne avoided a manipulation under anesthesia after 12 weeks struggling in outpatient PT. Avoid MUA 12 Weeks Post Surgery

Dianne faced an additional challenge in that she had three blood clots in her calf when she started on X10. At the end the blood clots were gone.

Details in the article below and on the podcast. This is part two of a two-part series.

From the blood clots, her leg had swelled up. She was suffering from swelling from quite a long time, her leg was very tender, and wasn’t getting anywhere with range of motion. PJ on our team first talked to her just said, “Listen, whether you get the machine or not, you just have to stop doing what you’re doing. Ride the bike three times a day. Just stop this forceful stretching. This pain mechanism is not going to stop.” So she decided to get the X10.

Before she got the X10, she already had gained nine degrees from doing what PJ had told her to do. We were so happy. We’re all a team here, so we want the best for the patient. We were happy that she was able to gain that much range.

Dianne said, “I don’t know. I don’t know what happened. I don’t care how it happened, but they’re gone. My leg is no longer swollen. It’s not painful. I can touch it. You know, anybody, you know, my grandkids touch my leg. I don’t jump. It’s l like, it’s a miracle, you know? And she was so thankful of finding X10.

From Dianne’s PT: And we had our doubts. We had our honest talks about, “Hey, you know, I can’t promise you that this is going to get you to where you think you want to go, where want to be. But I can guarantee you it’s going to get you better than what you were.” I told Dianne, “You trusted that process and you did it!”

This interview is available exclusively on The Bee’s Knees Podcast and on KNEE Radio 1, a new radio station engineered to help the millions of knee surgery patients each year. You can listen to KNEE RADIO 1 right here: KNEE RADIO 1

We are pleased to share this interview from The Bee’s Knees Podcast and KNEE RADIO 1. We share the account of Dianne Smith’s recovery after total knee replacement. Dianne was able to avoid manipulation under anesthesia after 12 weeks of struggling in outpatient PT.

Dianne faced an additional challenge in that she had three blood clots in her calf when she started on X10. At the end, the blood clots were gone.

Details in the article below and on the podcast. This is part one of a two-part series.

Hello, my name is Kim Sajewski, and I was fortunate enough to be the recovery coach for Dianne Smith. When I first spoke with her, she was about 83 days post-surgery. Typical patient that I talk to are frustrated, struggling, dodn’t know where to go. Dianne found us at at x10therapy.com: and she did her research. She was a great patient. She wanted to know what else she could do. And I was upfront and honest with her. We talked about where she was in her recovery, what she had been doing.

She was in outpatient therapy. She was zero degrees extension, which she had full, and she had about  103 degrees flexion. The unique thing about Diane and I have not seen before with X10 is Diane had three blood clots in her calf. She still had them when she came to us, and I told her I was concerned. I had never seen it before, but she had been in outpatient therapy. The surgeon told her there’s nothing that they can do about them. She, she was on blood thinners; they didn’t give her any restrictions.

Kim Sajewski

In going through what she was doing in outpatient therapy, I knew the X10 would be way more gentle than the outpatient therapy was for her. She was being forced into manual stretching to the point that she was like, “Kim, I was smacking my hand on the matt / table, tapping out. I’m tapping out like in a wrestling match.” And I said I understood, and it’s not the way to go, but it is what it is. We both said the same thing. As soon as I started saying it, she started finishing it for me. I said, “You know, when patients continue, you have your trust with your therapist and things are going okay, but then things don’t go so well. But then they keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.” And she said it right with me.

She’s like, “I knew I couldn’t keep doing this anymore. I was a young 60-year-old grandmother who wanted to play with the grandkids. I had places to go. I wanted to travel. I did this for a reason. You know, my knee was so painful before surgery, and I did this because I wanna get back to life.” Unfortunately, this happened.

From the blood clots, her leg had swelled up. She was suffering from swelling from quite a long time, her leg was very tender, and wasn’t getting anywhere with range of motion. PJ on our team first talked to her just said, “Listen, whether you get the machine or not, you just have to stop doing what you’re doing. Ride the bike three times a day. Just stop this forceful stretching. This pain mechanism is not going to stop.” So she decided to get the X10.

Before she got the X10, she already had gained nine degrees from doing what PJ had told her to do. So I was, I was so happy. We’re all a team here, so we want the best for the patient. And I was happy that she was able to gain that much range.

Now she’s excited, right? She is gaining this range, and now she’s getting a little bit ahead of herself. So that’s where the coaching with my patients, what all the coaches do: ometimes we have to pull the reigns back. It’s a slow process. It’s the slow not forceful process that works. And the knee takes some time to slow down. It takes some time to get used to that, and it’s not going to happen overnight. And I told her that, I said, “It’s not a miracle machine. You have to give the knee some time to calm down. It has to reset itself again. And it has to realize that you are not doing something that is going to make it hurt and is not going to be painful. So once it starts to calm down and realize that it’s okay, what it’s doing, and it’s okay to go one degree at a time, everything starts to follow through.”

And so she did that. She was re respectful of that. She trusted the process. She trusted that this was the road for her. She knew she couldn’t get any worse than what she was. Maybe she could, I don’t know if they caught forcing her, but she knew she wasn’t going to go back to that. I had spoken to her about her outpatient therapy as well. And I said, you know, if you have a good relationship with your therapist, just tell ’em that you have this machine. You can or cannot, you know, but just say, you know, let’s just try not forcing my knee into, into a bend. Let’s just try doing other things. Let’s, let’s focus on the strength. Let’s focus on hamstring flexibility, but not, not the bend. Let’s not do that. And her therapist was very respectful of that. He listened and he said, okay.

And soon all of these things started taking place, and her knee was calming down.,she started to notice that she was walking better. Then when she went into her outpatient PT clinic, everybody’s like, “Wow, you’re walking so much better. You’re more fluent. You know, you’re not stumbling. You’re getting that full stride.” And so, that really made her happy, and she wanted to do more. But I, once again I reminded her, “Diane, let’s pull the reins back. We talked about it going slow and steady.

However. To me the numbers, yes, they mean a lot. But… functionality meant even more. She was now able to get in and out of her car. Her husband said, “You bounced out. You bounced out of the car. Like it was nothing.” She was walking. She got to go down on the floor and play with her grandkids.

I think 19 days after she had the machine, she got to zero degrees extension and 130 degrees flexion (that is traditionally full flexion for most of us). She literally texted me that night, a picture of her screen, and she’s said, You have to celebrate this with me!” I, of course, called her and I said, “Oh my gosh, who would’ve thought this happened ?? !!”

Dianne said, “I don’t know. I don’t know what happened. I don’t care how it happened, but they’re gone. My leg is no longer swollen. It’s not painful. I can touch it. You know, anybody, you know, my grandkids touch my leg. I don’t jump. It’s l like, it’s a miracle, you know? And she was so thankful of finding X10.

And we had our doubts. We had our honest talks about, “Hey, you know, I can’t promise you that this is going to get you to where you think you want to go, where want to be. But I can guarantee you it’s going to get you better than what you were.” I told Dianne, “You trusted that process and you did it!”

Now we’re just friends. I told Dianne, you’re not only my patient, but you’re my friend. So she’s sending me pictures of her grandkids and everything. And it was, it was pretty. It’s an amazing story. I’m so happy for her.

This interview “Avoid Manipulation Under Anesthesia” is available exclusively on The Bee’s Knees Podcast and on KNEE Radio 1, a new radio station engineered to help millions of knee surgery patients each year. You can listen to KNEE RADIO 1 right here: KNEE RADIO 1

We call it a “Meta-Blog.” We step back and give you a broad perspective on all aspects of knee health as with this article on ‘Avoid Manipulation After Anesthesia (12-weeks after knee replacement)’.

In this one-of-a-kind blog we gather together great thinkers, doers, and writers. All our work is related to Knee Surgery, Recovery, Preparation, Care, Success and Failure. Meet physical therapists, coaches, surgeons, patients, and as many smart people as we can gather to create useful articles for you. This is for you if you have a surgery upcoming, or in the rear-view mirror. Or maybe you just want to take care of your knees to avoid surgery. Executive Editor: PJ Ewing

To subscribe to the blog click here.

Two resources for you below to help with knee replacement pain management. Both are email series that we created to help those who need some additional thinking for pre-surgery and post-surgery.

Chris Nowacki spends time with us discussing her husband’s bilateral knee replacement. Wallander (Wally) Nowacki was an Olympic cyclist for Team Poland early in his life. However, finding himself in need of two new knees at age 65, he took the leap and did both knees at once. Chris and Wally did extensive research on how to best prepare for knee replacement surgery. They examined how to best recover afterward. Click the Play button above to listen to the interview. And look for a special bonus at the end of the interview – a nice surprise there for you.

Cycling is a great low-impact aerobic activity. Cyclists are usually more efficient on both hills and flat terrain when they pedal quickly (at about 80-85 rpm) rather than at slower cadences. And cycling is considered a knee-sparing exercise. This is because it does not require an impact with the ground. However, the repetitive motion of pedaling can lead to a variety of overuse knee injuries. The majority of cycling injuries are indeed caused by overuse. This leads to cumulative tissue microtrauma and consequent symptoms. In overuse injuries, the problem is often not acute tissue inflammation, but chronic degeneration. Source: Chester Knee Clinic

Click here for Ray’s Story.

Here is the article.

Click here for Tom’s Story.

Thank you Chris and Wally for your commitment to getting the X10 for recovery. This bilateral knee surgery for  Wallander Nowacki, was a great success.

We call it a “Meta-Blog.” In these articles, we step back and give you a broad perspective on all aspects of knee health. We explore surgery and recovery and such subjects as ‘Bilateral Knee Replacement for Olympic Cyclist’.

This is a one-of-a-kind blog. We gather together great thinkers, doers, and writers. And it is all related to Knee Surgery, Recovery, Preparation, Care, Success, and Failure. Meet physical therapists, coaches, surgeons, and patients. And as many smart people as we can gather to create useful articles for you. You may have a surgery upcoming. Or in the rear-view mirror. Maybe you just want to take care of your knees to avoid surgery. In all cases, you should find some value here. Executive Editor: PJ Ewing ([email protected])

In this episode of The Bee’s Knees, I have the pleasure of sitting down with Susanna, a vibrant individual who shares her inspiring journey through knee replacement surgery and recovery. Susanna recounts her experiences leading up to her full right knee replacement on December 19th. Having managed a knee that had been previously injured for 45 years, she faced the difficult decision of replacement surgery after realizing the extent of the wear and tear on her knee joint. What stands out in her narrative is not only her courage to undergo surgery but also the distinct contrasts in recovery experiences between her and her husband, who had his knee replaced a year earlier.

As we delve into her recovery process, Susanna highlights the initial challenges she faced with pain and limited mobility, specifically her struggles to bend her knee beyond 90 degrees. She details ongoing consultations with her orthopedic doctor, which culminated in undergoing a manipulation under anesthesia to improve her knee’s flexibility. Susanna’s commitment to recovery shines through as she explores various approaches to physical therapy, ultimately discovering the X10 Therapy machine, which she enthusiastically describes as a transformative tool in her rehabilitation journey.

Throughout our conversation, Susanna emphasizes her approach to recovery, wherein she committed to using the X10 machine and engaging in personalized physical therapy. Her dedication to this alternative method, in conjunction with traditional rehabilitation techniques, has significantly improved her range of motion, allowing her to achieve 115 degrees on her own within just three weeks after starting with the machine. We discuss the vital role of motivation and determination in her recovery process, as well as the importance of having professional support from coaches who provide guidance and adjustments along the way.

In closing our episode, I express my gratitude for Susanna’s willingness to share her journey and insights with us. She embodies the spirit of resilience and the continuous pursuit of a more active and fulfilling life post-surgery. This conversation is a powerful reminder of the possibilities that lie ahead and the importance of tailored recovery plans that align with individual needs and circumstances. Join us as we continue to explore more inspiring stories and expert advice on knee surgery and recovery in future episodes.