54 Year Old Headed for Bilateral Total Knee Replacements

[BigNavyRider]

I am headed for the inevitable knee replacements after a lifetime of using mine in all sorts of misadventures, and I am wondering if others on the forum have been through this, and how it affected your SUP performance once completed. I am mostly a SUP surfer but to be honest, with my knees as they have been, I have largely dropped it altogether. I was hoping to get back out there once my knees are done though. Thanks in advance for any advice and lessons learned!

[sflinux]

My dad had knee replacement because the pain became unbearable (no cartilage from playing american football).
I'd say you are approaching the age of being a good candidate where artificial knees last ~20 years.
I am a big fan of Kelley Starretts books "Ready to Run" (also "Becoming a Supple Leopard").  The young can move through the pain, the wise ought learn from the pain.  After racking up countless miles of use, best to fine tune the motions, where pain is the signal of something wrong.  The book is applicable to someone who might not be running/walking a marathon in a day, but instead covering that ground in a 2 week period.
I get knee pain from time to time (snowboard injury) which is a symptom of my hips going out of alignment and if left untreated proceeds to lower back pain.  Might be worth getting diagnosed by a good chiropractor.   I was a breech baby and am convinced my hip allignment problems can be traced back to that.

[NEplay]

Morning, I had a partial knee replacement at 51. It has worked out great. I earned it, like you did. I too had largely given up on SUP surfing and bought a prone board. I am back at it strong. I had gained a load of weight and that has been, ahhem, harder to rehab the the knee but the knee is giving my zero excuses and I am rolling strong now.

Marta

[PonoBill]

My wife had both knees done this summer--by the doctor who has been refusing to do mine for at least 12 years. He says mine are not bad enough and I probably wouldn't be happy with the result since I do so much stupid stuff still (wingfoiling SUP, dirt bikes, MTB, etc.). After seeing bone scans of my knees vs. My wife's I think he's absolutely right and I'm happy to keep working with what I've got.

I can tell you a bit about the recovery since I've been the caregiver. She's less than two months into the second knee replacement and she's walking more or less normally. There's still pain, but she's more dogged about doing the PT than I would be and she's doing well. She played golf a week ago, and did well, but suffered for it the next day. I have several friends who have had both knees replaced and they are back to SUP paddling and bicycling. The only thing they don't do is run, and who wants to do that?

I think as long as you work hard on range of motion and strength recovery after the surgery you'll be fine for SUP. You probably won't want to kneel a lot, but other than that, it is probably a great recovery exercise.

[BigNavyRider]

Thanks, everyone. It sounds like some of us SUP guys have similar other hobbies. I first hurt my knee playing football and then another injury during college lacrosse. Then two major skydiving injuries 5 years apart and one on the dirtbike. 4 surgeries to date on the knees and two reconstructions so it's time for new knees. My hope is that I can still SUP and snowboard. I am just hoping I can hop to my feet ok once it is done. Definitely up on the weight myself.

[starman]

I had left knee done in 2014. Went quite well, able to SUP at 5 weeks. My wife just had both done at same time. She was back playing pickleball after 3 months. But I know some friends who took longer to recover and there is a small percentage that still suffer. I think it has a lot to do with the surgeon and your health going into the operation. The wife did months of physical therapy prior to the surgery and swears that was a big factor in her quick recovery.

[deepmud]

EDIT: Just notice how old this is lol - hey how did it go?  You should have a new one and be back to paddling        57 - had left knee in at 51 in 2018 as a half-knee - works really well - it was a  pretty slow rehab, like 3 months and still not 100% motion - I didn't kneel on it again for a year. The right knee was the better of the two at the time - it wasn't great then either as my x-ray shows. I'm seeing docs again next week - after last week I mentioned I'd like a half knee again. Since I moved to civilization I'm put into a body-parts-mill (Center For Excellence) and it seems to take more visits to get through the system - last weeks doc couldn't talk about a half knee option so back again next week. Anyway - my half knee works pretty well and I can get a full knee later if this half-swap fails. However - there is quite a bit of pain off and on with the half-knee. Standing for long hurts the lower leg, getting moving after sitting hurts - often it's a wash whether I have more pain from the old/worn knee vs the new one - the lower plate might be a little small for me/my weight - I'd feel pretty skinny (and look ok  too lol) at 225 - I'm solid/heavy-built and overweight at 285 now - this impacts how your knees feel, faux or otherwise.  What I'm saying is you should be able to do what you want but it may not be like you are 20 or anything - just functional and hurting vs not-functional and hurting. My new left 1/2 knee works well, sometimes it hurts but nothing I can't tolerate. I can kneel on my board and both knees hurt . Currently my right inner knee is pretty much in constant pain and getting noisier by the week. Looking forward to the fix on that crunchy thing whether full or 1/2.