Returned to HIIT Workouts After Knee Replacement
Whether it was ice skating, trapeze artistry, or a daily Orangetheory Fitness class, Linda was always up for a challenge. Staying active and using her body to do extreme sports was in her nature. For Linda, experiencing pain was part of the athletic journey and she typically wrote off pain as 'normal.'
"Being active in sports my whole life I had a 'pain is gain' mentality, but this pain felt different. I knew something was wrong with my knee."
Linda started researching orthopaedists near her she could trust with her care. "My first experience with an orthopaedist at another practice was exactly what I feared. I felt like that doctor rushed me and just wanted to cut me open. I wanted surgery to be the last resort, and he did not seem to care."
At this point, Linda had so many questions.
Questions like:
Am I too young for a knee replacement?
What caused this?
I am in good shape, can I not work at making this better?
So Linda looked for other opinions and within a couple of months she had visited three Orthopaedists that gave her the same prognosis and recommended the same treatment.
"I knew from the moment I met Dr. Claps with Resurgens Orthopaedics, that he was going to be the one I was going to work with. There was something in him that I just trusted." Linda describes Dr. Claps as a doctor who listens and understands the difficulty of the situation. "He gave me the facts and allowed me the time to process."
"She was reluctant to have surgery because she is so active and wanted to make sure she could get back to being active after the knee replacement. She had to decide when it was right for her." Dr. Claps explained.
Whether it was ice skating, trapeze artistry, or a daily Orangetheory Fitness class, Linda was always up for a challenge. Staying active and using her body to do extreme sports was in her nature.
Linda was afraid that surgery would restrict her abilities, and deciding on the right time was difficult. "It seems obvious if I trusted him with my life, I would trust him with my mobility - but it was difficult for me and Dr. Claps was patient. He never pressured me." Linda scheduled surgery for the beginning of 2020.
Dr. Claps tells his patients they should expect the worst pain during the first two weeks after the surgery, and then after three months they should be about 85% healed. For Linda, this was indeed the case. She experienced the majority of the pain immediately following surgery. "I wanted to be the perfect patient during recovery. Even though the first couple weeks were hard and physical therapy was challenging I knew it was the best way to recover."
When Linda was nearing her 3-month point she was ready to get back in the gym when COVID-19 halted gym workouts. "In a weird way, the closed gym gave me a unique opportunity to give my body more time to heal." She had a sense of peace knowing that even if she wanted to work out, she was not able to go to the gym. This helped with the emotional and mental toll of the healing process.
By May, when the gyms reopened, Linda was both mentally ready and physically ready to get back into her favorite Orangetheory Fitness classes. After her first class, she felt sore, but proud and excited she could get back to what she loved.
Roughly a year after surgery Linda is not restricted due to the surgery and is in fact excelling in her exercise. In many ways she feels stronger and is in significantly less pain.
Dr. Claps and all the staff at Resurgens are proud that they were able to help Linda get back to doing the activities she loves!.
If you have questions about knee or joint replacement, contact one of our 24 convenient Resurgens Orthopaedics locations.