Nope. I’m not. I’m a highly motivated individual who likes to prove people wrong. And the following statements have been said to me somewhere along my knee replacement journey:
- a knee replacement knee will never be the same as the original.
- a knee replacement knee will never bend more than 130.
- it will be good, but it can never be better than the knee was before the op.
- you’ll never get back to competitive sport
- you’ll regret you did this, your knee wasn’t damaged enough to warrant a knee replacement at your age.
- you’ll probably never ride your time trial bike again.
Yes, fact. Those things were said to me. I will be truthful, some of them nearly broke me, but I’m someone who has always liked to prove people wrong, so that’s exactly what I intended to do.
A lot of medical staff argued with me and constantly tried to deflate my lofty goals. So I went to look for someone I could pay for privately who would engage with me and DID share my lofty goals and was prepared to help me achieve them.
The only medical reason why not, was running. I was told that running would wear the prosthetic knee out faster. That sounded completely fair and reasonable so I have elected to NOT do that. Frankly I don’t want to come back to this horrid op a moment sooner than I have to!
So am I amazing? No. Have I done things extra ordinary? No. I might have achieved things that are on the unusual side of normal (for a knee replacement) but you know what? Nothing, yes NOTHING is impossible if you set your mind to it.
Thank you to that person who said I’d never ride my bike again, because that person was my single biggest motivator. I proved them wrong on week 11 post op. To get there I took a spin bike from work, parked it on my porch and rode it daily (yes DAILY) until the pain stopped, until I could get a rotation without it bringing tears to my eyes, until I could ride the bike with the seat LOWER than it should be. Then I sat on my own bike, and did the same thing. Daily, over and over.
Do you want to know how to achieve what I have achieved? You have to be prepared to put yourself in the pain cave, day after day after day.. again and again and again. And you have to be prepared to keep doing that until it STOPS hurting.
If you’re prepared to put yourself through that, you’ll go far my friend.
Knee Replacement Resource 