Leg pain at night after Total Knee Replacement Surgery (TKR).
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Hello, I am 20 days post-TKR. During my second week post-surgery, I developed nocturnal leg cramps. They are extremely painful!! I'm finally on a muscle relaxer that seems to be helping a bit. Has anyone else had this develop post-surgery? Why does it happen? What can I do to get relief from it? I am 58 years old, male.
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@tamir Hello, the levels of your natural anti-inflammatory hormone, cortisol, are naturally lower at night. Staying still in the same position will also cause your knee joints to stiffen up. Another reason could be related to how your brain perceives pain and this may change in the small hours. The Pain is more pronounced at night or to put it another way, your pain thresholds are lower at night. Your other senses are distracting you during the day when there is more noise and more going on around you, these distractions are no longer there at night.