Can you have arthroscopic knee surgery more than once on the same knee?

I had arthroscopic knee surgery Dec 22, I cannot bend or straighten it out.?

• My knee is extremely tight, I cannot bend, straighten or walk normal. I just started physical therapy and they put me back on crutches because my knee is really weak. The physical therapist massages it to pop the scar tissue and it is so painful I cried. Then he forces it a bit at a time into a bent position and it really hurts to do this. The day after surgery my knee bleed a lot and the blood went into my knee, and it really swelled up. Can that blood cause scarring or scar tissue which would make this happen? IS there such a thing called a frozen knee? I have had a frozen shoulder after surgery. This is my 6th knee surgery, can this happen to my knee? I have never had this before. It is getting more painful now too. Medical advice please.

• Answer:

  It would be helpful if you could explain what the reason for your knee arthroscopy was? For example I have had two surgeries on my knee via arthroscopic methodology and both of those surgeries were to remove some thickened bands of my synovial joint lining and to repair my MCL. In your case it sounds as though your surgery was a little more involved, even though it was still preformed via the same methodology. There is such a thing as a frozen knee, but it is less common than a frozen shoulder. Frozen shoulders typically occur as a result of surgeries like rotator cuff reconstructions and capsule reconstructions, where the joint repair results in extreme tightening on that shoulder joint. Of course the idea is to reduce range of motion in many cases, as the patient prior to surgery had far too loose of a shoulder and therefore far too much range of motion which usually results in subluxations and dislocations. As for the knee these issues are not as typical, but the knee does have a type of capsule and it can be tightened. More cases than not, a stiff knee after surgery is usually a result of ligament repair, such as MCL, ACL, PCL, LCL. I am not so certain that a minor repair on an MCL or LCL would be enough to cause the type of problems that you are describing though. However an ACL or PCL could most certainty cause a very stiff joint. The fact that you had that severe swelling and bleeding post op is a little interesting to say the least. Did you have a polar care system or something similar to use post op? If so and you still had that kind of swelling then it sounds abnormal to me. If you did not have a P Care system or did not use ice therapy heavily post op, then the swelling could be very normal. Your physical therapist should be able to answer your questions though. It is there job to explain what they are doing when you have your sessions, what the prognosis and therapy plan is as well as to just plain answer your questions and address your concerns while under their care. If there is something about your case that is extremely abnormal then they should communicate this to you and your surgeon. If you can provide more information about what repairs were actually made to your knee then maybe I can give you a few more things to consider, but without that information all I can really tell you is the general things listed above.