RECOVERING FROM

SURGERY

Your knee joint surgery recovery follows a clear pathway, beginning with the early days in hospital, continuing at home, and supported by key check‑ins along the way.

From your initial hospital recovery to settling back into daily life at home, each stage is designed to build steadily on the last.

You’ll have a 2‑week clinic visit, a 2‑month review, and later a 1‑year check to ensure your knee is healing and progressing exactly as expected.

This page gives you an overview of what to expect at each step so you always know where you are in the journey.

RECOVERY IN HOSPITAL

FIRST 2 DAYS

Pain Management

  • Your anaesthetist will have a plan to help manage post‑operative pain, usually with several different medications.

  • We deliberately use more than one medication working in different ways to relieve pain. Rest assured, this is a well‑proven method, but it sometimes needs adjusting to your specific situation.

  • We ensure that the “pain plan” is well sorted out before your discharge home, and we will ensure you have a prescription for the same pain relief.

  • In addition to medication, we also use physical measures to achieve pain relief, including elevation, compression wraps on your leg, ice packs, and early mobilisation.

  • Nurses will help manage pain with medication and comfort measures from hour to hour.

  • Tell staff if your pain isn’t controlled — your comfort/pain level is the one thing our monitors can’t tell us; you are our “pain monitor”! They can then adjust your plan.

Early Mobility

  • You’ll begin gentle movement soon after surgery. Early movement reduces pain, speeds mobility, and prevents complications.

  • Physiotherapists will guide you through safe exercises.

  • Ensuring you can mobilise for basic personal cares such as toileting, showering, getting dressed, and walking around the home are key tasks we ensure you can safely complete before clearing you for discharge home.

Physiotherapy

  • Simple exercises like glute squeezes, ankle pumps, and deep breathing help to maintain your circulation and prevent complications.

  • Specific knee exercises will be given to you by the physiotherapist in hospital, and an instruction book for exercises at home will be provided.

  • You will be shown safe ways to get in and out of bed, dress, and bathe.

  • If needed, you will be offered aids like reachers or sock helpers.

Discharge Planning

  • Staff will confirm your home setup and support arrangements.

  • You’ll be discharged once you’re safe to manage daily tasks with support and a proven pain plan is in place.

RECOVERY AT HOME

Wound Care & Hygiene

  • Your wound dressing is waterproof so that you can shower normally.

  • Do not submerge in a bath or pool.

  • Leave the dressing intact until your scheduled wound check, either back with the surgeon or at your GP, as arranged at your discharge.

  • If you are concerned between follow‑up visits, Grace Hospital has 24‑hour advice from a senior nurse manager on 07 577 5270. They will know how to reach the surgeon if needed.

Mobility & Walking Aids

  • Use crutches or a walker as advised.

Daily Routines

  • In the first 2 weeks, the focus is on preventing and minimising swelling. This means a lot of rest, ice, and elevation of the leg that has been operated on.

  • This doesn’t mean no exercise at all, but gentle range‑of‑motion exercises to increase the bend and extension of your knee, as advised by the physio and as shown in the instruction book.

  • Try to have a short walk every hour or two, but limit the time on your feet to 5–10 minutes at a time to prevent undue swelling.

  • Continue your deep breathing and ankle pumps to maintain your circulation and prevent complications until you regain full mobility.

Nutrition & Emotional Wellbeing

  • Eat regular, balanced meals to support healing.

  • Keep well hydrated, as you will need more fluid than usual (and may need the bathroom more than normal as well).

  • Use laxatives initially on return home until your bowel habit returns to normal.

  • Remember to stay connected with friends and family for support.

FOLLOW-UP & LONG-TERM RECOVERY

2 WEEKS CLINIC VISIT

The first check‑up is 10–14 days from your surgery. We call this the “Two Week” check even though it may only be 8–9 days depending on your surgery date, and it is usually on a Wednesday between 1:30 pm and 3 pm. We do this check at Grace Orthopaedic Centre in the Fracture Clinic (not at the hospital or in my usual rooms). A specialist Wound Care Nurse and one of the Grace Hospital physiotherapists will see you, as well as the surgeon.

The goals of this visit are:

  • Ensure there have been no concerns

  • Ensure your pain plan and medications are sufficient

  • Change the wound dressing and ensure healing is progressing and that there is no infection

  • Progress to the next phase of exercises to accelerate your recovery and rehab

2 MONTHS CLINIC VISIT

You will have this appointment made at your previous visit. Go first to Bay Radiology for an X‑ray to check the position of your joint replacement. You then come to Grace Orthopaedic Centre to Mr Lamberton’s rooms in Suite One for review.

You should aim to be walking unaided, driving (from 6 weeks), and returning to work by the 8‑week mark. Note that this is still early in your overall recovery, but hopefully you are feeling steady progress and that the worst is behind you.

For 9 out of 10 patients, this will be the final initial check. Around one in 10 patients are still a bit slow at this stage through no fault of their own — often due to swelling or stiffness in the knee. If this is you, don’t worry; I will continue to follow up with you every six weeks until recovery is complete.

1 YEAR CLINIC VISIT WITH X-RAY

Even though it is very unusual for there to be a problem after the initial three months of recovery, for peace of mind we arrange a one year check with an x-ray to ensure that you have fully recovered and that there is no concern with the joint replacement.

Not only is this reassuring about your recovery but it is also very predictive of a successful long-term outcome. If you are from out of town, we can do this check by telemedicine with you obtaining an x-ray in your hometown.

2 YEARS

Whilst we don’t typically arrange a follow-up at two years, ultimately patients with knee joint replacements report ongoing improvements for two years after surgery, on average.

This means even at one year your knee may not have reached its full potential normally this is due to occasional low-grade persistent twins around the knee, possibly some residual stiffness, and possibly some numbness that persists around the scar area. All of this is quite normal after a knee replacement.