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Athletic Therapy Success Story: Post-Surgical Knee Rehabilitation!

   Friday, February 17, 2017

   Competitive Edge

It’s been a successful knee rehabilitation month for Competitive Edge!

I recently began treating a gentleman who had previously undergone surgery on his left knee. During our first visit he explained to me that he was also planning on getting a partial knee replacement for his right knee and was hoping to go into that surgery as strong as possible!

Upon initial assessment of his left knee, it was evident that his range of motion was almost half what his right side was capable of, and he was having trouble getting his quad to contract. Both of these findings are very normal after this type of surgery.

When tissue is disrupted, the body naturally turns on its protection mechanism to prevent any further damage to the area. In this case it shut down the function of the thigh muscle where the tendon attaches.

Unfortunately this means it is a lot harder to actively use that muscle in day to day activities such as walking. If we don’t start re-teaching that muscle how to contract soon after this disruption occurs, the muscle can begin to become weak and waste away from not using it.

Additionally, if one muscle isn’t working to do its job, others have to take over and compensate to perform those movements, which can create tightness and pain in other areas as well.

How can Athletic Therapy Help with Rehabilitating a Knee Injury?

The first step in rehabilitating a knee injury is to reduce any pain or inflammation in the area. To achieve this we used a combination of manual soft tissue releases and pain relieving modalities such as ultrasound and electrical stimulation.

Secondly, we worked on increasing his range of motion and teaching his quad muscle to start working normally again. In just two weeks we have seen significant improvement in his range of motion (currently at 95% normal range) and his quad is starting to regain contraction and strength!

Our next steps in his knee rehabilitation process is to begin looking above and below the knee joint for any compensation patterns, muscle tightness and/or weakness and core stability to treat the body as a whole unit in order for the body to ideally function optimally!

 

Speak to our team about athletic therapy and rehabilitation.

At Competitive Edge Sport Therapy your recovery is our concern. We will provide caring and professional rehabilitation for your injury in our one hour appointments, one on one with your athletic therapist. We want to help you get back to full health and enjoying the activities you love to do.
Phone: 403-252-6222 Email: [email protected] Website: https://competitiveedgesporttherapy.com

 

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