Many persons anticipating knee surgery often look forward to their life getting back to normal once the knee surgery has healed and for the most part they can look forward to going about their business. However, experiencing back pain after knee surgery may also be expected as part of the recovery process. While there may be some problems with slight back pain after knee surgery caused by epidural anesthesia, the location of the needle entry will stop hurting after a few days.

When a person is released from the hospital following knee surgery, they will be using crutches or a walker, which will put back muscles to work that may not be used to functioning in the way in which they are being used. It is not unusual for a person to favor the side on which the surgery was performed, which places additional stress on back muscles. This can contribute to back pain after knee surgery and by exercising the back properly can help the pain dissipate.

Some surgeons recommend back muscles exercises prior to surgery to help reduce the amount of back pain after knee surgery, as the muscle strength is increased and better able to handle the additional, unusual movements.

Crutches Keeps Pressure Off Knee And On Back

With most knee surgeries, the exercises to help rebuild the leg muscles, places an undue burden on the back muscles as well as unintended leaning occurs when using crutches. After a period of recovery, switching to using just one crutch often exaggerates the back pain after knee surgery, especially on the side opposite of the knee surgery.

It is important that while laying in bed, exercises be used to keep the overall back muscles strong and pain free. Expecting back pain after knee surgery can make its appearance less of a shock and more of a reminder that additional exercising of those muscles may be needed. Changing sleeping positions may help.

Even if the knee surgery requires to keep the leg elevated for the first few days, or week, sleeping on a firmer mattress with no pillow or a flatter pillow will help keep the head in alignment with the rest of the spine, which can alleviate some of the back pain after knee surgery. Sleeping on one side or the other, without the benefit of support for the head, will generally cause a stiffness in the neck muscles, which will also increase the back pain.