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- After a knee arthroscopy,
therapy is an integral part of your recovery.
Physical therapy helps you return to full function
so you can resume your normal activities
with a pain-free knee.
- After surgery, again, we want to make sure
the motion and strength come back as fast as we can,
and that we try to eliminate any pain and swelling
that they'll have after surgery.
The patients want us to get rid of pain
as fast as we can,
and we want to get that joint moving as fast as we can
so we can return them to their function.
- Two exercises, quad set and heel slides
are exercises that we utilize.
The next exercise that I'm going to show you
is called quad set.
I'm going to place a towel behind your ankle here.
What I want you to do is bring your foot back a little bit,
tighten your thigh muscle,
and you're going to press down towards the table.
This exercise focus on getting your knee
nice and extended here, or what we call extension.
You're going to hold that, 1, 2, 3, 4 seconds,
and relax.
- Things we want to work on right away
are making sure the knee is straight as we can.
We'll teach them techniques on how to
do passive extension exercises at home
with a roll under their foot.
We'll work in therapy on quad sets,
things to strengthen the quad.
We'll also, again, work on bending the knee as well,
and again, just mainly promoting motion
while decreasing pain and decreasing inflammation.
We will eventually move them to
activities including weight machines.
Weight machines are a strong way to build the muscles.
We will obviously tailor that to the appropriate case
for each individual patient.
The older patients might be more afraid of the machines,
but if you keep the weight lighter,
you'll actually build more strength,
and that will reduce play in the joints.
By keeping the joints more stable,
you're less likely to continue the inflammation
and the irritation through the joint.
It would be beneficial through any age group,
provided it's applied appropriately.
The patient is doing their own exercises
and doing their activities and eventually
returning to their lifestyle.
So they need to make sure they're playing a major role.
- Most everyone who has dealt with
osteoarthritis of the knee, at one point or another
has said, "I don't want to keep dealing with this pain."
Whether you've opted to treat osteoarthritis
with nonsurgical or surgical treatment,
you want to protect your knee,
and prevent further problems from occurring.
What your doctor and physical therapist
do to help you is only half the battle.
You must make some small modifications
in your daily life in order to maintain
a pain-free knee.
Some of those changes include:
modifying or eliminating the activities
that aggravate your pain.
You should participate in lower
or non-impact sports, such as biking,
swimming, using the elliptical.
But avoid heavy impact or pounding activities.
Continue to perform the home exercises
given to you by your therapist.
Stretch those muscles surrounding your knee.
Maintain that strength around your knee.
Remember, you cannot completely stop
the arthritic process in your knee,
but you can slow the process
by modifying your activities and maintaining
the motion and strength in your knee.
At Coordinated Health, we work as a team
in your treatment and recovery.
But remember that you are the most
important member of that team.
You hold the keys to that success.
There are no shortcuts.
Your attitude and consistent effort
during and after treatment build a foundation
for maintaining a pain-free knee.
In order to maintain that foundation
and have a better functioning knee,
take what you've learned from us,
and continue to apply it in your daily life.
Spend a few minutes a day to stretch
and strengthen your knee.
This has a tremendous impact in preventing
pain and loss of function.
That's the art of medicine.
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