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Knee replacement is not as complex a surgery/recovery as it was a few years ago. Techniques and implants have been significantly improved. My experience, take it for what you will was this: Find a skilled, experienced surgeon (research this in advance of meeting the surgeon- it will help you ask useful questions and gauge the answers you get). Right after the surgery, you'll have a bag of pain meds ( usually lying on your chest). This is the strongest pain med you'll be given. As soon as the anesthesia wears off, sit up and swing you legs off the side of the bed (my wife was there to help with this). Even if you need help, try to bend the knee to at least 90 degrees. This might hurt a bit, but you have the strong pain meds to compensate for it. If you wait until you get to rehab to start bending the knee it wil have already begun to tighten up and will be more difficult and painful to bend-and you won't have any pain meds at that point. Trust me, it saved me at least 10 -14 days of post surgery rehab to have the knee at 90 in the hospital. Expert rehab (you want outpatient/private rehab) is absolutely essential for the quickest and most effective result. Research facilities in your area and try to get personal recommendations from people you know who have used a given facility. Avoid in-patient or at home rehab at all costs. You'll get little progress and at a much slower rate. The harder youwork at rehab from the outset the quicker you'll recover and the less pain, overall you'll have to deal with. I learned all of this because I had advance advice from a rehab group I had previously used for a hip surgery advice. My recovery was fairly rapid and the results have been excellent. I'm 5 years post surgery. Don't wait, bone on bone is more painful than the rehab. Good luck.
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