While surgery is an option that shouldn’t be undertaken lightly, knee surgeries can often help treat a wide range of conditions and injuries. Yet your knee surgery is only as good as its recovery process.
Physical therapy is an option that can help ensure that your post-knee surgery recovery is as fast and effective as possible. Unfortunately, some people might think physical therapy isn’t a big help. But there are many reasons that people need to have post-surgical rehab from a physical therapist.
You should consider post-knee surgery physical therapy for these five reasons
There are five primary reasons that you should consider doing physical therapy after your knee surgery:
- Reduces pain — Even minimally invasive surgeries can still cause some soft tissue damage. This damage can result in post-operative pain. One study found that a multimethod therapy plan helped decrease pain after knee surgery. This study reveals that dry needling and therapeutic exercises helped reduce pain scores by 36.3 points after four sessions.
- Increases range of motion (ROM) — Your ability to extend and bend your knee can be affected by a surgical procedure. Fortunately, physical therapy can help improve post-surgical ROM. A study on total knee replacement patients shows that therapeutic exercises helped increase knee ROM by 2 degrees after just one session.
- Decreases knee stiffness — Soft tissue healing often leads to scar tissue, which can make your knee stiff. Medical researchers report that four physical therapy sessions helped reduce stiffness scores by nearly three points.
- Improves knee function — One major goal of knee surgery is to restore function to your knee. Physical therapy can help ensure that this goal is met. A medical study reports that four sessions of post-surgical therapy led to an almost 17-point improvement in knee function.
- Increases your ability to walk — How well you can walk after surgery is a good test of the surgery’s success. Your physical therapist can help you regain your ability to walk as fast as possible. In fact, a post-surgical rehab study found that it helped increase six-minute walking test distances by 33.3 meters (36.4 yards) in just four sessions.
Find the physical therapy you need after knee surgery at Excel PT
Ready to start getting these and other benefits from physical therapy after knee surgery? Our therapy specialists at Excel Sports & Physical Therapy are ready to help you. We can evaluate your knee to determine the post-surgical issues you’re facing. Then, our physical therapists can create an individualized rehab plan designed to offer the five benefits above.
Contact our team today for more information about our post-surgical rehab services or to schedule an initial appointment.
Our Locations
FAQ
Conditions Library
