How to Not Bend After Surgery

[Emily B]

After the PN surgery, Dr. Hibner's patients are instructed to not bend the knees toward the chest any further than 90 degrees for 6 months. This allows the re-attached ligament time to heal and become strong again.

I would love to hear ideas about how to do normal activities without bending.

Putting on socks?
Washing feet and lower legs?
Shaving legs?
Putting lotion on legs?
Laundry?
Bending to get file out of desk?

I can think of a million tasks that require bending and I can't imagine how a patient copes with this.

Thanks,

Emily B.

[Tiny Dancer]

Emily,

I have been wondering the same thing myself because I am about to have surgery with Dr. Hibner too.

Do you know how golfers bend over? They put their hand on the club to balance and bend staight down with the leg straight in back. You are almost in a straight line with your body and the bad leg is the one that is straight. I think that will meet the doctors criteria but I'm going to ask Lisa at the pre-op visit.

Some people say to use a long handled grabber, a long handled shoe horn, and a sock puller that you can get at a drugstore.

As for the file, maybe the golfer's bend. Good Luck!
Kate

[calluna]

I had to avoid bending at the hip after my reconstruction surgery. If you need to get close to floor level - putting laundry in front loader washer for instance - you can sort of slide down to the floor from a seated position, ending upright on your knees, this is how I do it. And the chair is helpful when standing up again. When hanging out the washing, I don't put the basket on the ground, I have a garden chair near the washing line and the basket goes on that.

For putting socks on etc, I sit on the edge of a chair, bend the outside leg at the knee, take the knee down and bring the foot up and a bit out to the side, and then reach down to the foot. Easy to do, hard to describe!

Edited to add - and I also have a long handled grabber and a long handled shoe horn, both very useful!

[Amanda]

I became very good at bending at the knees when reaching into the fridge etc......as Im tall it was at an odd angle but it worked especially when I moved the more frequent items to the top shelf so that I could reach them easily.

The best thing I used was a long handled Grabber.....its amazing how adept you can be at grabbing things with some practice.
As others have said by placing a chair near to the clothesline then you can do the hanging of washing out without bending at all.

Even now when Im in flare up or recovering from same, i tend to go onto my knees rather then bend from the hips when trying to do certain tasks.

[A's Mommy]

Emily,
Are you having surgery with Dr Hibner soon?

[drds89]

It is amazing how we reflexively 'learn' what / how to do things. I have not had surgery, but the 'golfer's bend' is exactly what I do to reach things down low. I used to play golf years ago, but I had been referring to the bend as the figure skater's 'camel' (sp.), with that bad leg out straight perpendicular.

I cannot kneel this go around, whereas I could the first time; not being able to kneel, squat or get down the lower drawers does provide a challenge and some creative thinking.

Getting the sock/shoe onthe affected side is accomplished by flexing the knee without too much flexing the hip.

But my wife still has to trim my toenails