A combination of massage, physical therapist-guided exercises, resistance training, a home exercise program, ultrasound, and professional assessment along the way to adjust the knee treatment plan and align it with your healing progress.
Before and after surgery, it’s critical to improve the strength and stability of the affected knee. Time-based ( based on how tissues are healing) physical therapy treatment promotes strength and stability around the impacted joint, ligament, tendons, muscle or other tissue to give it time to heal after repair. It’s important to realize that after surgery, doing nothing is the worst thing you can do. Our bodies heal through motion.
Overuse, underuse, and misuse can all lead to pain and inflammation, even if you don’t have an actual injury. Often, overuse injuries happen because you’re using a certain muscle more than those surrounding it, leaving connecting tissues weaker. Knee arthritis, runner’s knee, and patellar tendinitis are 3 knee examples of pain and inflammation injuries.
In these cases, your physical therapist can apply evidence-based knee treatment to improve strength, balance, and stability, thus reducing pain and inflammation, stopping potential wear and tear, and promoting an overall healthier knee. You may not even need surgery!