Knee Injury Rehabilitation

No one likes having to recover from an injury – and knee injuries can be particularly debilitating and painful. However, there are certain processes and techniques you can use to rehabilitate your knee after injury. It can be a long process but with the right rehabilitation techniques you can be back to normal as quickly as possible.

Types of Knee Injury

There are many different types of knee injuries that occur and they can happen whilst taking part in even the most every day activities. Some knee injuries are much more serious than others and can range from sprains and strains up to fractures, dislocations, chondromalacia and more.

The more serious types of knee injury will require surgery whereas many just need to recover over time with the right rehab program.

Knee Injury Rehabilitation for Sprains and Strains

If you have sprained or strained your knee you will find that your knee will be swollen, and it may feel weak and painful when pressure is put on it. Most sprains and strains are not serious and do not require surgery.

The rehabilitation process for a sprained or strained knee usually involves lots of rest and keeping pressure off of the knee until it has completely recovered. Your physician may advise you to wear a compression bandage or knee brace to help minimize the pressure on it and help speed up the rehabilitation process.

Other methods of knee injury rehabilitation for sprains and strains includes using an ice pack to reduce swelling in the affected area and increase the blood flow to your knee which in turn will make the recovery process much faster.

Knee Injury Rehabilitation for Fractures and Dislocations

Knee injuries that involve a fracture or dislocation are generally much more serious than sprains and strains and the rehabilitation process can be much longer and harder. Often you will require surgery, in which case the rehabilitation process will usually be longer.

If you sustain this type of injury you will need to meet with your physician who will advise you on what steps you should take to ensure a speedy recovery.

Usually, as with other types of knee injuries, this will require a lot of rest. Crutches will ensure that you don’t put any extra pressure onto your knee that may make the injury worse. Your leg will usually be put into a splint to keep it in a straight position during the first part of the recovery process.

Depending on how well your knee is recovering your doctor will advise you when you can start moving your knee again. You will usually be able to begin moving your knee again a few weeks after the injury has occurred.

If the dislocation or fracture is very severe then you may need to meet with a physical therapist that can assist in the rehabilitation process – however we shall look at this more in the next section.

Knee Injury Rehabilitation after Surgery

If you are unfortunate enough to have to have surgery for your knee injury then you may have to undergo a long rehabilitation process. The rehab that is required will largely depend on the type of injury and severity of surgery that you have.

However, most knee injury rehabilitations after surgery require meeting with a physical therapist who will help restore strength and movement in your knee once it has recovered from the acute injury.

Physical therapists are professionally trained to treat patients who need to recover from surgery and other serious injuries. During the healing process your knee will lose a lot of strength and it is important that a professional physical therapist gives you the right exercises and stretches to do to ensure that you do not reinjure yourself and to bring your knee back to its original strength.