Rehabilitation after an injury is a test of your patience and the expertise of your physiotherapist. There are a lot of things you must consider during and after the rehabilitation of a knee injury. Most of the factors and goals are defined by your therapist after a careful diagnosis of your condition. The therapist may ask you about any previous condition or pain and try to find the right course of treatment. Here in this blog, we will discuss the specific goals and treatment during the rehabilitation of your knee injury.
1. Swelling control
You can experience moderate to high levels of swelling right after the injury. Pain and swelling are few first symptoms you face when you injure or twist your knee. While you can reduce swelling following many home remedies but in serious circumstances, you may need to see a physiotherapist. The phenomenon of swelling is caused by your body, and it sends white blood cells and platelets to the injured spot. It triggers swelling in the injured area. But you must take heed in consulting with a physiotherapist and seek treatment. He can often suggest rehabilitation to recover the damaged muscles.
There are several ways a physiotherapist can cure the swelling:
● Modalities
This method uses energy to make physiological changes in your body. Therapists often use thermal or electrical energy in the swelled area. For example, electrical pulses are most widely used to regain muscle contractions and assist the muscles to working as they were working before.
● Therapeutic Exercises
Therapeutic exercises are the first recommendation by therapists during rehabilitation. It often includes movements related to the strengthening and stretching of the affected muscles. It promotes blood flow and moves the excess fluids from the injured muscles.
● Manual Lymphatic Drainage
Manual treatment to reduce the swelling in the muscles. It is done by professional therapists to benefit your muscles by improving lymph flow, reducing swelling, and removing toxins from the spot. It can be said it is a kind of massage treatment that not only relaxes your muscles but also relieves the swelling and make you feel better.
2. Pain Control
Pain is the first thing you want to get rid off when you face a knee injury. There are multiple treatments and ways to control or eliminate the pain completely. However, the level of pain you face depends on the type of injury. The pain can be controlled using medications, therapy, or injections. The type of treatment is often decided by the therapist after analyzing your condition.
● Medication
Medication is a commonly prescribed way of dealing with pain. Doctors can prescribe painkillers to lower the pain or eliminate it completely. Pain is often the hurdle to achieving the required muscle range of motion during rehabilitation. So to make sure your muscle range of motion is back to normal, you must treat the pain in that area.
● Therapy
Therapy includes such exercises that strengthen the muscles around the injury spot, so they support the joints and lower the pain. A physiotherapist can recommend basic exercises to treat the pain. Most of these exercises can be done at home with just basic guidance.
● Injections
In some severe pain scenarios, doctors can recommend injections of the medications directly into the muscles or joints. It provides instant relief to the patient. The most commonly recommended injections are Corticosteroids, PRP, or Hyaluronic acid. It helps reduce the symptoms of arthritis and provides a pain relief treatment for a few months. Though, these injections are recommended in specific cases. Moreover, PRP injection includes the combination of multiple growths and healing ingredients that can relieve the pain and stiffness in the muscles.
3. Reduce Knee Stiffness
Osteoarthritis is often the cause of knee stiffness and pain. There are numerous ways to treat this condition. However, the treatment varies from case to case. Some serious cases of knee stiffness may require surgery, but other mild conditions can be treated with medication or exercises.
- Anti-inflammatory drugs
Some physiotherapists may recommend taking anti-inflammatory drugs during the rehabilitation process to speed up the results.
- RICE therapy
It is one the most common therapy that you can even perform at your home. RICE stands for rest, ice, compression, and elevation. It helps lessen the pain in your muscles.
- Knee Braces
Braces are effective in stabilizing and keeping the muscle in the right position. It also helps shift pressure from the healing knee, so it does not face any more issues during the healing process.
4. Maximize range of motion
Improving the range of motion is crucial to gain normal muscle movement. It is often done by stretching muscles in a way that overcomes the range of motion limits. During the rehabilitation, stretching is promoted to relieve the muscles, decrease pain, and stretch muscles tendons.
There are two types of muscle stretching that can be performed, one is static, and another one is dynamic.
- Static Stretching
Static stretching can be defined as holding a muscle in an elongated form for a specific period of time. Depending on the pain and muscles, it can be performed on a single joint or multiple joints. Static stretching can range anywhere between 30 seconds to 60 seconds. However, the time can be increased as long as you feel mild discomfort and it doesn’t hurt you. Static stretching for a single joint can really help you gain a wider range of motion
- Dynamic Stretching
Dynamic stretching is a type of muscle stretching where you go in and out of your available muscle range of motion. It is often the type of stretching where you make a sudden movement and try to go beyond the stretching limit without hurting yourself. It is often recommended to athletes to warm up their muscles before performing any activity.
Final Words
A knee injury is surely an unfortunate incident that can affect a number of aspects of your life. However, there is always a way to recover from it and live a normal life like your used to live before this injury. You have to make sure you are getting the right treatment from the right physiotherapist and hope that nothing goes wrong during the rehabilitation. Make sure the physiotherapist understands the scope of your injury and takes up the right treatment to recover in a timely manner.
