Knee Replacement and Foot Pegs Advice Needed
- Thread starter Daboo
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junglejim
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Of course Phil is our resident knee expert. But from what I know your range of motion should be more than enough to ride in your same position. But that depends on the outcome of the surgery and your PT afterwards. Make sure you have a good PT and let the PT know that your have that range of motion as an objective.
junglejim
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Did you ask your surgeon how much knee flexion you would have post op?
Compare his with the knee angle on "cycle-ergo" (cycle-ergo.com)
You select a bike and input your height and in-seam and it will show how the bike fits you.
I'm no knee replacement expert, but I've been told that I'm a candidate for knee replacement. I'm working hard to avoid it or at least delay it, but my knees are worn out. Bicycling seems to help as long as I keep my RPMs up and don't push hard at a slow cadence.
Compare his with the knee angle on "cycle-ergo" (cycle-ergo.com)
You select a bike and input your height and in-seam and it will show how the bike fits you.
I'm no knee replacement expert, but I've been told that I'm a candidate for knee replacement. I'm working hard to avoid it or at least delay it, but my knees are worn out. Bicycling seems to help as long as I keep my RPMs up and don't push hard at a slow cadence.
Chris, I'm something of an expert on this subject. I had bilateral knee replacement the week after my 60th birthday. I had my a right knee revision (a re-replacement) nine months later and a left knee revision three months after that. Then three years after that, I had a 2nd revision of my right knee. So, today, my newest knee is 9 1/2 years old.
I was riding a 1999 Kawasaki Concours when I had all five of my knee replacements. It was about 100-120 pounds heavier than the NT. I added peg lowerers to the Connie. I rode it to physical therapy six weeks after my first knee replacements, five weeks after the first revision, and four weeks after the 2nd revision. The last revision was a two-stage process and I didn't ride until four weeks after the 2nd stage. Even though I had peg lowerers on my Connie, when I went to Europe in 2008, I rode a borrowed Concours (in Europe it's called a GTR) that didn't have the peg lowerers, but I was able to ride it for over 4,000 miles in 19 days without any discomfort
When I bought the NT, I put Motorcyclee Larry's peg lowerers on, but learned that I couldn't get enough movement on the brake pedal linkage to actually lower the right peg. It's rotated back farther and I ride with my foot resting slightly more on the heel than on the arch. My left foot is lowered an inch or slightly more and that foot has it's arch on the pedals. I can bend my knees enough to ride with the ball of both feet on the pedals, but it's not particularly comfortable.
After the last knee replacement, I can only bend my right knee about 84 degrees. The left knee bends about 108 degrees. I can ride a bicycle again since I went to a bike shop last summer that had the bright idea of drilling a hole closer to the center of the crankarm than the normal 170cm common to road bicycles. I would guess that my right crank arm's effective length is now 85-90cm.
I'm also 5'8" with a 28" inseam and I'm comfortable with the arches of my feet on the pegs for hours at a time. My guess is that you will be, too.
My biggest issue is that I have a hard time bending my right knee enough to be able to get my butt onto the saddle so that I can lift the bike with my legs after it's decided to take a nap. That wasn't a huge issue until the last 2-3 years. I was able to pick the heavier Connie up back in 2007-2010. I could pick up the NT when I first got it. But in the last year or two I've lost strength more than I've lost the ability to bend it. When I dropped the bike in early August while on the Big Sky Working on the Railroad Rally, I was on gravel and couldn't pick the bike up. I think I could have if I could have gotten a solid placement of my feet on the ground.
My revisions were the result of a post-op infection that didn't surface until about six months after my first surgery. I was at the '03 Iron Butt Rally finish in Missoula and met Eldon Cannon (EX-WINGER) there while wandering the parking lot looking at long-distance bikes. I was on my way home and my right knee started hurting for the first time in several months. I assumed it was because I had been on my feet on a concrete parking lot. A week or two after I got home, I went to see my orthopod and he guessed that it was inflammation. He gave me prednisone and recommended physical therapy. The prednisone helped for maybe 3-4 days. About a month after that, I rode to a meeting in Winter Park and managed to get from Fort Morgan to Winter Park without stopping (173 miles). When I got off the bike to walk in to register, I nearly hit the ground. My right knee was really hurting and it didn't slack off. I couldn't walk to the dining hall (so you know I was in bad shape!) I called and learned that my doc was in surgery but was told that he would work me in the next day. I managed to get back on my bike and ride about 120 miles from Winter Park through Rocky Mountain National Park to Fort Collins.
When he examined me, he drew fluid off my left knee (which also was hurting but not as bad as the right one). It was a milky yellow. He said that wasn't good, but might not mean an infection. Then he drew blood from the right knee. It was milky yellow with red streaks in it. He cultured both samples of fluid and neither one of them grew anything. He had me do a bone scan the next week and both knees were hot. So, when he did the first revision the day before Thanksgiving, for some reason, he decided to only replace the tibial part of the joint. He replaced the whole left knee three months later. Two and a half years later, another doc did the right knee again, this time as a two-stage procedure. He removed the components the first revision and replaced them with antibiotic-infused cement spacers and my leg was immobized for the next six weeks. After that the spacers were removed and a new knee prostheses was installed. I was back on my motorcycle four weeks after that. The only problem with the 3rd right knee is that my right leg is now nearly 3/4" inches shorter than my left leg and, as I said, the right knee only bends 84 degrees.
But, as much trouble as I've had I can't emphasize how much better my life has been since I finally got that first set of new knees. My first surgeon is my current orthopod and I really wish I'd gone back to him for my 3rd right knee. I'm pretty sure that if I had I'd have legs of the same length and that I'd have more bending ability than I have now.
I was riding a 1999 Kawasaki Concours when I had all five of my knee replacements. It was about 100-120 pounds heavier than the NT. I added peg lowerers to the Connie. I rode it to physical therapy six weeks after my first knee replacements, five weeks after the first revision, and four weeks after the 2nd revision. The last revision was a two-stage process and I didn't ride until four weeks after the 2nd stage. Even though I had peg lowerers on my Connie, when I went to Europe in 2008, I rode a borrowed Concours (in Europe it's called a GTR) that didn't have the peg lowerers, but I was able to ride it for over 4,000 miles in 19 days without any discomfort
When I bought the NT, I put Motorcyclee Larry's peg lowerers on, but learned that I couldn't get enough movement on the brake pedal linkage to actually lower the right peg. It's rotated back farther and I ride with my foot resting slightly more on the heel than on the arch. My left foot is lowered an inch or slightly more and that foot has it's arch on the pedals. I can bend my knees enough to ride with the ball of both feet on the pedals, but it's not particularly comfortable.
After the last knee replacement, I can only bend my right knee about 84 degrees. The left knee bends about 108 degrees. I can ride a bicycle again since I went to a bike shop last summer that had the bright idea of drilling a hole closer to the center of the crankarm than the normal 170cm common to road bicycles. I would guess that my right crank arm's effective length is now 85-90cm.
I'm also 5'8" with a 28" inseam and I'm comfortable with the arches of my feet on the pegs for hours at a time. My guess is that you will be, too.
My biggest issue is that I have a hard time bending my right knee enough to be able to get my butt onto the saddle so that I can lift the bike with my legs after it's decided to take a nap. That wasn't a huge issue until the last 2-3 years. I was able to pick the heavier Connie up back in 2007-2010. I could pick up the NT when I first got it. But in the last year or two I've lost strength more than I've lost the ability to bend it. When I dropped the bike in early August while on the Big Sky Working on the Railroad Rally, I was on gravel and couldn't pick the bike up. I think I could have if I could have gotten a solid placement of my feet on the ground.
My revisions were the result of a post-op infection that didn't surface until about six months after my first surgery. I was at the '03 Iron Butt Rally finish in Missoula and met Eldon Cannon (EX-WINGER) there while wandering the parking lot looking at long-distance bikes. I was on my way home and my right knee started hurting for the first time in several months. I assumed it was because I had been on my feet on a concrete parking lot. A week or two after I got home, I went to see my orthopod and he guessed that it was inflammation. He gave me prednisone and recommended physical therapy. The prednisone helped for maybe 3-4 days. About a month after that, I rode to a meeting in Winter Park and managed to get from Fort Morgan to Winter Park without stopping (173 miles). When I got off the bike to walk in to register, I nearly hit the ground. My right knee was really hurting and it didn't slack off. I couldn't walk to the dining hall (so you know I was in bad shape!) I called and learned that my doc was in surgery but was told that he would work me in the next day. I managed to get back on my bike and ride about 120 miles from Winter Park through Rocky Mountain National Park to Fort Collins.
When he examined me, he drew fluid off my left knee (which also was hurting but not as bad as the right one). It was a milky yellow. He said that wasn't good, but might not mean an infection. Then he drew blood from the right knee. It was milky yellow with red streaks in it. He cultured both samples of fluid and neither one of them grew anything. He had me do a bone scan the next week and both knees were hot. So, when he did the first revision the day before Thanksgiving, for some reason, he decided to only replace the tibial part of the joint. He replaced the whole left knee three months later. Two and a half years later, another doc did the right knee again, this time as a two-stage procedure. He removed the components the first revision and replaced them with antibiotic-infused cement spacers and my leg was immobized for the next six weeks. After that the spacers were removed and a new knee prostheses was installed. I was back on my motorcycle four weeks after that. The only problem with the 3rd right knee is that my right leg is now nearly 3/4" inches shorter than my left leg and, as I said, the right knee only bends 84 degrees.
But, as much trouble as I've had I can't emphasize how much better my life has been since I finally got that first set of new knees. My first surgeon is my current orthopod and I really wish I'd gone back to him for my 3rd right knee. I'm pretty sure that if I had I'd have legs of the same length and that I'd have more bending ability than I have now.
I also had my left knee replaced and I am having no problem with riding because of it. I usually ride with my arches on the pegs but since I had the bike lowered, when I go thru the twisties I have to put the balls of my feet on the pegs or my toes hit the ground. I found the best way to have a good post surgery is to work your *** off during PT. The results are worth it.
Hello Chris, I had my left knee replaced almost six years ago. At the time, my knee had a fair of amount of pain. Now, I'd give it a good solid grade of B, not perfect, but far better. My wife and I are dancers and spend about five hours a week dancing. I think it was about two months before we were able to get on the dance floor again. It was probably ten months before it didn't bother me much. I still take two Alleve before we go dancing as it still is sore with extended use. My inseam is 31 inches and I've not had any problem on my NT. To Phil's posting, I think most of us would have trouble lifting our bikes from a SAD on gravel where we couldn't get traction. I think the issue of riding your bike after surgery is the confidence in holding your bike up if it starts to fall on the side of your new knee. It's been a while since I've had a SAD, but it would be a bad idea to try after just a few months post surgery.
Terry
Terry
Had my right knee replaced March of this year due to a motorcycle accident 8 years prior. I had a lot of swelling BEFORE and AFTER surgery but was able to ride 300 miles, round trip, within a week after surgery. A lot of your recovery depends on your surgeon, what NEEDS to be done to "fix" the knee and DOING your Physical Therapy! Physical Therapy being the key to being able to enjoy a new lease on life! Knee replacement has gotten a LOT better over the years, it will "hurt" to have it done but you'll definitely be glad that you had it done!
Chris, before my knee surgery, I never had constant pain, but would have moments of almost-paralyzing pain two or three times a week. If you need a knee, you don't want to wait too long. The longer you wait the more damage has been done.
junglejim
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Isn't it great to be able to get free medical advice from a motorcycle forum! Your questions should be directed to your doctor, but in your shoes I'd ask as many people as I could.
We all know that pain isn't "normal" but our denial dismisses it as a warning sign as soon as it is gone. And that IS normal.
Good luck with your upcoming surgery and recovery. You should be fine, but there are no guarantees. Do your PT post op.
We all know that pain isn't "normal" but our denial dismisses it as a warning sign as soon as it is gone. And that IS normal.
Good luck with your upcoming surgery and recovery. You should be fine, but there are no guarantees. Do your PT post op.
I was more like Phil with my knee. Most of the time I was pain free, unless I used it. Once after a long walk I came close to simply passing out from the pain. Second thought, echoed by others, is don't wait too long. We lose muscle as we age and it's very helpful to get this done sooner or later. I have an older friend that waited too long for a replacement and the recovery seemed to be 3 or 4 times longer than mine. Good luck.
Terry
Terry
Bear
2
I'll be getting a knee replacement this winter. My friend had both knees done last spring and he was riding his Harley six weeks later. He is 71.I will have the same surgeon. Had right hip done in April 2014. Our VA is excellent for that sort of stuff. You should have no problem riding the NT. At the worst, you may have to invest in a foot peg lowering kit. Good luck with the surgery and DO EVERYTHING THE PT PEOPLE TELL YOU TO DO. You will have a good outcome.
junglejim
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And good luck to you too Alex! Stay "in the game" here so we can support you.
This is beginning to sound like a geriatric motorcycle forum. There are a lot of members who have had health issues in the last year or so and continue. I feel right at home here. My Versys riding buddy makes lots of "old" jokes at my expense, but what does he know - he's just a kid. Phil, he was very kind to you at our visit last month, but I'm sure you realized he has a sharp and quick tongue.
Jim, I noticed that he has a quick and sharp tongue and quick and sharp fingers when I read his account of our lunch in Walden. Bring him to Spearfish next year and we can practice on him.
I though that for sometime....
:wink:Are you going to teach the "Old Age and Treachery will overcome Youth and Exuberance Everytime" lesson?Bring him to Spearfish next year and we can practice on him.
junglejim
Site Supporter
He might come and I got to see Phil try this.
Bear
2
We may be old--but we are experienced.
Sounds like a good idea, Mike!