Physical Therapy For Knee Injuries
Depending on the advice of your doctor, physical therapy can treat a mild knee injury such as a knee sprain or mild tear. By leading your knee back to it's full strength and mobility, your knee will be able to resume normal movement and support your body.
The two most important factors in healing your knee are flexibility and strength. By supporting your knee, tissue damage often heals on it’s own with time. Physical Therapy helps in aiding the healing process reducing stress on the knee joint. The less you are able to strain your knee while it is healing, the more likely you will find pain relief and prevent further injury.
Stretching and flexibility is key to the knee’s healing process and preventing another injury. While strengthening your knee, the muscles tighten and tight muscles cause stress on the knee joint. Tight muscles are also more prone to an injury. Gentle stretching after your exercises helps to keep your muscles flexible, long, and reduce soreness.
It is important to be under the guidance of a professional such as a doctor or physical therapist when you start exercising. Start slowly. Building up muscles takes some time and you gain strength as you build up your muscles. Importantly, don't ignore pain. If you are having pain while exercising, make sure to tell our physical therapists. Also, don’t overdo it as this can lead to further injury.
Our physical therapists at Cross Bay Physical Therapy will make sure you not only know how to properly do your exercises but will overlook your progress helping to make sure that you are getting better. We will also make sure you are not overdoing it and end up with another injury.
Physical Therapy Exercises
Some important knee exercises include:
1. Straight-Leg-Lift
- 1. Lying on your back with one leg bent, keep the other leg straight and lift this leg six inches off of the floor. Then, slowly raise your leg until it is about 1 foot off of the floor while tightening the muscles around your knee. Keep your upper body relaxed and hold for 3 to 5 seconds. Then, gently lower your leg to the starting position. Repeat for the recommended number of repetitions and then switch legs.
2. Single-Leg-Dip
- 2. Put one chair on both sides of you and put your hands on each chair to help you balance. Lift one of your legs slightly in front of you while planting the other leg on the floor. Put your weight on the leg that is on the floor and slowly lower yourself down just a few inches pushing your weight onto the heel of this supporting leg. Hold this position for 3 to 5 seconds and then slowly straighten your leg to the original standing position. Repeat for the recommended number of positions and switch sides.
A proper physical therapy program is a key success factor to your healing. Our physical therapists have decades of experience in helping their patients recover from knee injuries and we are confident that we can help you too.
Call (718) 835-0084 and schedule your first visit.