You're here if you've had the operation and you're somewhere between day one and month three. THE SHAPE OF IT - Days 0 to 3: the first few days are usually the most painful. A nerve block often wears off within the first day, and the pain can arrive all at once, often at night. - Days 6 to 8: in one study, swelling peaked around here. Later than anyone tells you. Puffier at day seven than day two is normal. - Weeks 4 to 6: sleep is often still broken. In one study it was worst around a month in, then slowly improved. - First month: thigh strength drops by about 62%. The muscle is switched down, not wasted. - Around week 6: most people walk indoors without an aid. That isn't the finish line. - Weeks 7 to 12: the weekly gains stop. What's rebuilding now is strength, and it moves month to month. THE NUMBERS YOUR PHYSIO IS WATCHING - Bend: the middle half of people are at 95 to 115 degrees at one month and 109 to 122 at three months. These are bands, not pass marks. - Straight: zero degrees. Ask for this number too. - Under 90 degrees of bend at weeks 4 to 6: ask your surgeon or physio about it rather than waiting. Stiff knees dealt with inside about three months got roughly twice the bend back. Later still helps. RING YOUR TEAM TODAY (SURGEON'S ROOMS, THE WARD OR YOUR GP) FOR ANY OF THESE - Calf pain, swelling or heat in one leg. - A temperature of 38°C or more, chills or shivering: ring your team now. If you feel very unwell, confused or drowsy, call 000 · 999 · 911. - A wound that's newly red, leaking or opening. - Redness that is spreading. - A knee that suddenly gives way. - Anything getting worse instead of better. CALL 000 (AUSTRALIA), 999 (UK) OR 911 (US) NOW, AND DON'T DRIVE YOURSELF, FOR SUDDEN CHEST PAIN OR BREATHLESSNESS, COUGHING UP BLOOD, OR FEELING FAINT OR SUDDENLY CONFUSED. READ THESE THREE FIRST - Find Your Stage - Normal Pain vs Red Flag - Your week: the week-by-week cards, 1 to 12 THE GUIDE Knee Replacement Exercises — Day 0 to Week 6: 21 pages, with a tick sheet. It's in the Classroom, in The First Twelve Weeks course.

You're here if you've been told you need a knee replacement, you're on a waiting list, or you have a date. WHAT'S NORMAL TO FEEL RIGHT NOW Frightened, mostly. Almost everyone is, and almost nobody says it out loud. Fear tells you how you feel. It doesn't tell you whether the operation is right for your knee. FIVE THINGS WORTH KNOWING BEFORE YOU GO IN - Recovery takes about a year, not six weeks. Six weeks is when the walking aids usually go. Fair at three months, good at six, right at about twelve. - Most new knees last. Across 14 national registries, about 82 in 100 were still in place at 25 years. - Serious complications are uncommon. Fewer than 2 in 100 get a joint infection. About 1 in 40 get a clot with symptoms, which is why the calf signs matter. - About 17 in 100 aren't satisfied afterwards. The strongest predictor is whether the knee did what they pictured. So ask what yours is likely to give back. - Kneeling is the slow one. About a third can kneel at a year, nearly half by three years. READ THESE THREE FIRST - What Actually Is a Knee Replacement - The Risks, With Real Numbers - How to Choose a Surgeon (and the five questions to ask) DO THESE BEFORE YOUR DATE - Set up the house: a firm chair with arms, rails, loose rugs gone, a bed on the ground floor if you can. - Sort the carer's list, the meals and the lift home. - Write down the three things you want the new knee to let you do, and ask your surgeon how likely each is. - Ask what you're going home on to prevent clots, and who to ring at 10pm on day four. THE BOOKLET Getting Ready for a Knee Replacement: 12 pages of checklists, from deciding to the first 24 hours. It's in the Classroom, in the Ready for Surgery course. ASK THE GROUP Tell us your date, or that you're still deciding. What's the one thing you most want to know? General information, not medical advice. Your own surgeon and physiotherapist know your knee. Sources: Evans 2019, Lancet · AAOS OrthoInfo · CRISTAL trial, JAMA 2022 · Verhaar 2020 · Bourne 2010 · Nadeem 2021 · healthdirect

1. Say your stage. Start your post with where you are: "pre-op", "week 3", "month 5". It gets you better answers. 2. This is education, not treatment. I share general information and the research behind it. I can't assess your knee or tell you what to do about it. Your own team can. 3. Red flags go to your team, not the group. Calf pain or swelling in one leg, a fever, a wound that's leaking or spreading red, chest pain or breathlessness. Ring your surgeon's rooms, the ward or your GP the same day. Chest pain or breathlessness is 000 in Australia, 911 in the US, 999 in the UK. 4. Never tell someone to start, stop or change a medicine. Say what you were told and send them to whoever prescribed it. 5. Your recovery isn't theirs. Share your experience as yours. Don't rank other people's progress. 6. No selling, no recommending clinics, surgeons or products by name. 7. Be kind. Everyone here is frightened of something.