BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

So my 56 yr old wife has to have a complete knee replacement on the 24th… not what we expected but there it is.
Is there anyone that’s had a knee replacement and can still ride pillion on the RT or indeed any bike ?. It will be the end of my biking if she can’t.

Sorry to hear that Martin…

The father in law has had one done 3 times and one done once

He was 50 when he had his first done and is 81 now and no major issues as such and could do everything could before the replacements

The one he had done 3 times was due to the wrong size knee used the first time so had to be replaced again then after 25 years and bone shrinkage caused it to move so it had to be redone

My daughter in laws dad has had both replaced last year.He was back on his feet in 3 months and has done 2 euro rallies on his Lambretta.With the right physio anything is possible and she'll need to keep a positive attitude. Hope it goes well for her and you're both back on the bike

The most important thing to do after a total joint replacement is to religiously follow the rehab regimen. If she does that, she should be good to go. Not doing the regimen is a guaranteed fail.

Thanks for the reply’s , hopefully it goes well and she’s not in to much pain and sticks to the rehab.

Are there any alternatives? Has she been offered other treatments? Doctors have been trying to change bits of my knees since the early 90's and I keep saying no and work on building muscle around the joint to support it.I have spoken to people who say it's the best thing they ever did and have spoken to people who say otherwise.I wish her well and many more years of happy biking to you both.

Firstly good luck. My mate had both knees exchanged under God's body old age warranty. 2 months later he was riding and sitting as a pillion. ive had a hip replacement 2/3 months i was back on the bike. Now waiting for the next one to be done

Hi, I’ve had both knees replaced, one last year and the other two years before that. The good news is that I’m now fully mobile and can ride my bikes quite happily ( just been toSpain and Portugal). The bad news is it takes about 10-12 months to get full movement and function back and it’s essential to do the physio properly and fight through the pain. I go for a short bicycle ride every morning to keep them working fully but it’s worth it. The more effort you put in the better it gets. So it’s perfectly possible to carry on a full and active life. Good luck

Hope it all goes smoothly, Panman. 56 isn’t old, but knees don’t always agree. If the surgery and rehab go well, there’s a real shot she’ll be back on the bike, maybe not straight away, but it’s not game over.

Out of interest, while reading up on knee replacements I ended up digging into knee dislocations, not what your wife’s dealing with, but the stuff they treat at that Austin clinic is wild. Full joint blowouts from crashes and all sorts. Made me a bit more grateful for the ‘routine’ replacements we moan about.

My wife had hers done last September. The nurses said you'll hate them for six weeks, for the next six week you'll just curse after that you'll love them. Yes, it takes a while to recover, but do the exercises, do what the Physios say and your better half will recover faster. What I also thought was remarkable was I dropped my wife off at 7.30am on the day of the operation, at 4.00pm I got a call from her to say she could go home and could I come and pick her up!!!

Okay in the hospital we moved her by wheelchair, but she stood up and with just the aid of a walking stick, walked the last few paces and got into the car pretty much on her own. Okay she was as high as kite as I'd told the hospital it was a 40mile drive home and they'd previously given her some damned good drugs*, but nonetheless, just hours after having a full knee replacement she was on her feet and walking. Truely remarkable.

At home and on whilst still on painkillers*, sure it was uncomfortable be she showered, washed & dressed etc all by herself.

*As one Doctor said, if you want to be in pain, that's up to you, but there are plenty of types of pain relief out there. If the standard stuff they'll give your wife doesn't work, talk to your GP