Does anyone have information on post knee surgery muscle spasms?I had arthroscopic knee surgery 7 days ago to remove part of the lateral meniscus in my left knee. I stayed off of it (for the most part) for the first four days, iced and took pain medication as prescribed. On the 5th day I stopped taking the vicodin (it made me unable to think clearly) and I started putting more weight on the knee and used crutches as necessary. That evening in bed, I was unable to sleep for more than an hour at a time because of extreme pain in my quadriceps, IT band and hip area. The attacks (they are suddden, uncontrollable and last anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes-- I have starting calling them muscle spasms but i don't know if that's correct) are so painful I am sometimes brought to tears. I have tried taking vicodin and benadryll before bed to no avail. I have also tried heating the area and stretching (I can't really stretch my quad though because my knee is so swollen that I can't bend it back enough for a normal quad stretch). During the day I just have to rub the area and/or wait it out during a "spasm" but it is making sitting in class/ concentrating very difficult. At night I have found no relief. I called my doctor who, after asking questions to rule out a blood clot, prescribed valium to take before bed to relax the muscle and help me sleep. I hope it works tonight but I still don't know what to do during the day (I'm not going to take valium during the day because then I wouldn't be able to drive or study). The doctor says these symptoms are atypical and recommends heating the area. He doesn't recommend PT yet for fear of aggravating the knee but says that if the spasms persist I can have ultrasound and/or electrotherapy so stimulate the muscle and hopefully stop the attacks.
Do you have any experience with this??? Any suggestions? Should I walk more, less?? Heat? If anyone has any information for me that would be AMAZING!
The Joker
Ice helped me the most. ^^
Orignal From: Hip pain: Does anyone have information on post knee surgery muscle spasms?
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