Whether it's a sprained ligament, muscular strain, or a full-blown tear, suffering from a knee injury is never fun. It can reduce your ability to exercise and limit your daily movements. Although rest makes a positive contribution towards healing, you may want to try physiotherapy too. Here's how it can help.
Getting an Accurate Diagnosis
Your knee comprises a series of bones, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments. While some of its components are small, they all contribute positively towards it working smoothly. Although it's a flexible joint, movements in the wrong direction can cause those components to strain or break. Your physio will perform a thorough assessment that alerts them to which element needs treatment. Having a better understanding of what's broken can help you focus your exercises properly and adapt your routine. It also tells your physio what type of support aids you'll need, if any.
Adjusting Your Lifestyle
Adapting your lifestyle to heal a knee injury isn't always necessary. However, some diagnoses may require you to abstain from certain activities in your work and personal life. For example, if you tear your ACL, you might need to change your exercise type. Similarly, your workplace may need to adjust your duties until you heal. Making lifestyle adjustments supports the healing process and ensures any progress you make with exercises isn't undone by the wrong movements.
Prescribed Exercises
During your appointment, your physiotherapist can guide you through exercises that will stabilise your knee. Their aim is to make sure you know how to perform the exercises in a coordinated manner that doesn't make the injury worse. They may also provide you with a leaflet demonstrating each exercise using pictures and encourage you to use them at home. Practising the exercises according to their guidelines should result in progress between each appointment. After follow-up knee exams, they may recommend that you try different exercises.
Supportive Aids
Knee injuries vary in terms of severity. For example, a complete ligament tear is usually worse than a simple sprain. In some cases, it's necessary to use supportive aids so that your body has a chance to heal. Your physiotherapy team can measure you for devices such as crutches, which allow you to take the weight off your knees. They may also use certain bandages or provide you with knee braces for when you exercise. If your supportive device becomes uncomfortable or you feel that it's loose, always speak to your physiotherapist so they can refit it.
Share16 December 2022
When I first started noticing veins protruding from my lower legs, I did my best to ignore them. However, I knew they were likely varicose veins, as both my parents have had varicose veins for several years. Eventually, I went to see my doctor due to experiencing leg swelling and red patches of skin, which turned out to be varicose eczema. I was prescribed the usual treatment, and my doctor discussed surgery to strip out the damaged veins, but I decided to postpone surgery and look at managing the swelling and protrusion of veins naturally. I started this blog to share my own experiences of trying complementary therapies, such as homeopathy, herbal medicine and massage, to manage my symptoms. I hope you find my posts useful and interesting.
