Several months ago I had a knee surgery and a release was also done as one part of the surgery. I myself don't have any problems. I am a martial artist and have started training again.

You say that you have been having that pain for several weeks now. What are you waiting for? See a doctor. The longer you wait, the worse the situation will get.

I don't know what you did after your surgery. But the 1st step is finding a good doctor. Get a 2nd opinion, a 3rd if necesarry and then decide who you'll trust. I myself saw 4 doctors before chosing the one who'll do my surgery. The 2nd step is finding a good therapist. Did you do therapy? Hard enough? Long enough? If you don't do therapy and rehabilitation after the surgery, you will not and cannot recover. Plain and simple. The more time after the surgery passes without proper and regular therapy, the more problems you will have and the possibility of full recovery is less and less.

It has been a while now after your surgery. I don't know what the condition of your knee is right now. Maybe an mri wouldn't be a bad idea. See a good doctor and let him examine your knee thoroughly. Hope it all goes well for you.

I just had a lateral release one and a half months ago. I had a lot of bruising on my knee after the operation. But it has subsided. The thing is, my knee is still swelling. It isn't as big as it was before but it hasn't subsided very much either. They say, the older you are, the longer it takes to heal but i'm only 35 yrs.

I really don't know what to do, at this stage. I go for pt and do my exercises regularly and i'm back to work after 5 weeks but because of the limited space at my cubicle, my leg gets quite painful.

Any advice?

Btw, i'm sure that I will still feel pain in the knee after this coz my cartilage is worn off and the lateral release was done to just correct the knee alignment.

Hello nc,

i am sorry to hear that you are still in pain. I honestly don't know whether or not it's normal to feel that much pain and have that much swelling. Have you seen your doctor recently? Do you have check-ups? What did the doctor say?

After the surgery I did therapy 4 weeks long and then I started doing rehabilitation at the gym. My cartilage was also badly damaged but after all the therapy and exercising, now 6 months after the surgery my doctor examined my knee and was very pleased to see that my knee is stronger and that my cartilage has improved.

You have to be patient. Sometimes things don't heal from today to tomorrow. My doctor told me in the very beginning that my recovery would last 6 months and that's how it was.

Are you sure that you found a good therapist who knows his/her work? Maybe you should talk to your doctor and let him recommend someone good.

Hope everything works out for you.

Hi laura,

thanks for your message.

I saw my doctor 3 weeks ago. All he said was that I was slow in healing. He said that the swelling should have reduced 3 weeks after the operation. It's been almost 2 months and it's still swollen. I'm giving it till end of the week to see if the swelling subsides even if it's just by a little bit. If not, i'm going to see him again.

The therapist has been great and she's been helping me a lot. 2 weeks after the operation, I went to see her. At that time, I couldn't even lift my left of the ground because of the muscle. Now I can. I'm cycling, doing leg press, and I do my own exercises with the weights. But all this hasn't helped the knee reduce in swelling.

I guess the pain is due to the swelling. Once that goes down, I shouldn't have much pain.

I'll take your advice and be more patient. I'll keep icing the leg. I even bought and cold pack and have been icing my leg in the office while working.

I'll let you know when everything goes back to normal.

Thanks again!

I am glad to hear that your therapist is skilled. That is of utmost importance. But i'm still worried about the constant swelling you are having. Does your therapist ice your knee before every therapy? My therapist did it that way and I have never ever had swelling. Maybe here and there some minor swelling, but generally taken nothing.

Your doctor does not seem to be concerned. Maybe he is right. After all he is the doctor. Would you be interested in seeing another doctor and getting a 2nd opinion? You don't have to tell your doctor about it, but it would be good to hear what somebody else has to say. That's what I would recommend. Maybe I am exaggerating. But that's better than having problems.

Make sure to rest your knee and leg. When you lie down, put a pillow or something under your leg and rest your knee that way for a while.

Are your exercises too difficult for you? Under all the pressure of exercising, it is possible that water (or some fluid, I don't know the right medical term) gathers in the knee. Talk to your therapist. Maybe changing the exercises will do the trick. We are all different after all.

When there is a knee injury, a certain cyst appears in the knee. It's called baker's cyst. And it causes the swelling/the fluid to accumulate. There are doctors who would remove it but I think that my doctor is right when he says that that cyst is not the cause of a knee injury, it's actually the consequence. So when the knee problem is solved, the cyst disappears. And that's how it was with my knee. So think about it a little bit.

Was your doctor satisfied with how he performed the surgery?

I had this surgery done 9 months ago and am having many of the same problems as you. It seems to go back and forth between feeling better and worse. I do feel that my surgery is the cause of all my long term symptoms, but part of this may be due to the fact that it was nearly 3 years after the first injury when I had surgery.

I first injured my knee playng twister when I was 13. My mother did not know what happended except that I was in a lot of pain. We did not do anything about it until it happened again while I was in gym my freshman year of high school. The doctor, Orthopedic Surgeon, put me in a cast for 3 months. The only thing that did was stiffin my leg up so that when it was time to take it off i couldn't walk. Another year later, my knee went out of place again, the same ortho doctor performed arthroscopic surgey which once again did the same as the cast. Very Painful recovery I might add. Finally my junior year in highschool while playing tennis it happened once more I couldn't take that pain, my coach had to pop my knee back in place this time which I think was worse than it popping out. The same surgeon then performed a lateral release of the right knee and said that I would be good to go. It has been 11 years since that surgey and 2 kids and my knee has popped out of place numerous times. I have been scared to go back to the doctor because I know how dehabilitating the recovery can be especially for a major surgery. I am now seeing a new Ortho surgeon who says that there is no ligament or tendon holding my knee cap in place hence the continuing slipping of the knee. My question finally is did the fisrt surgeon do what he was supposed to, considering the neww doctor stated that the lateral release that was performed was done in the wrong place based on the scar?

I had surgery seven months ago. Lateral release/scope. I was pushed off a dock and landed all on one side. My knee continues to give out, swells, and is very painful. I have been doing my exercises and going to PT. I cannot do anything-my life revolves around my knee.

I walk this walk with all of you in life...No knee caps and cartilage that is gone...Cannot have knee replacements because my circulation is not good...Will I recover or lose a leg?....With the added age it doesn't help....But, I am alive...My mind is strong and it is just something that I am forced to accept....

We built our home 7 years ago around this fact...Saying this, please take precautions so that you do not fall down...Guard your steps...This is my best advice....

Take care,
Caroline

Wow - how depressing. My knee started swelling for no apparent reason back in November. After two aspirations and taking 800 mg of Celebrex daily it started swelling again. MRI didn't show anything so doctor says cartlidge clean out and I would be good as new. Post op learn a lateral knee release was performed. After three months of therapy and constant swelling decided to work at home since couldn't see significant improvement. Now six weeks later (4 months after surgery) my knee is still swollen and limited mobility and difficulty walking, stairs, etc. Working at the gym to rebuild but it is so painful and not sure what to do regarding a second opinion. At last check up doctor says the joint is good but doesn't know when I will feel better and says the swelling could be here for a year after surgery....this doesn't seem right.

I had a meniscus repair, arthritic "clean-up", and lateral release 3 1/2 months ago. Finally returned to work last week---12 hour shifts as a nurse. My knee still swells and is painful. Taking Celebrex and going to PT and doing daily exercises. The pain and stiffness was so bad that yesterday at work I had to call my doc---he injected it with cortisone and I felt much better. He's suggesting Hyalgan injections to the knee---Sodium Hyaluronate--if things don't improve after the cortisone and increased PT. Anyone had this done? I know there are other such products--Synvisc for one---that have been recently marketed on TV. I'm 59 y.o and will need to work for at least another 10 years, so am hoping to get some kind of relief from this all-consuming knee!! I know that patience is needed but gosh it just IS so all-consuming!