A knee injury or replacement can drastically alter your day-to-day existence. With regular exercise carried out under the guidance of a qualified physical therapist, however, it’s possible to regain your lost strength and mobility and go back to meeting life’s many demands.
The right equipment will play a crucial role in determining how fast—and how fully—you’re able to recover.
Here are a few of the best pieces of knee rehabilitation equipment you are likely to encounter during your healing process.
Natural Movement
Your own body is the best piece of exercise equipment you could ever hope to possess.
Even if you’re not yet able to walk or bear weight, you can jump-start the healing process. Simply practice bending and straightening your injured knee. For best results, do your best to take the joint through its full available range of motion. You’re free to repeat this exercise as many times as you can comfortably tolerate throughout the day.
Resistance Bands
Once you’ve developed a sufficient foundation of strength, you can begin adding small amounts of incremental resistance using resistance bands. These endlessly versatile aids will enable you to perform a variety of movements. They also gently challenge your stability and encourage you to increase your force output one repetition at a time.
You can even continue using your bands during the later stages of rehabilitation, progressing from basic motor patterns to compound exercises like squats and lunges.
Stationary Bike
The stationary bike is one of the first pieces of equipment that post-op rehabilitation therapists introduce to patients who have recently experienced a knee injury, surgery, or knee joint replacement.
One of the main reasons stationary bikes are widely utilized in rehabilitation regimens is that they are easy on the joints. They also promote strength and endurance and improve blood flow to the affected areas, all with negligible risk of re-injury. Cycling is also a more enjoyable form of activity than walking or corrective exercises for many patients.
Elliptical
As your knees become better at supporting your body weight, you can graduate from the stationary bike to an elliptical. Elliptical trainers have an advantage over treadmills when it comes to rehabbing knee injuries because they’re non-impact.
Using an elliptical won’t subject the joints to potentially painful shocks the way walking can. Pain-free exercise is an imperative part of helping prevent patients from developing bad motor habits.
Ankle Weights
Ankle weights offer another excellent way to train natural movement patterns like flexion and extension. At the same time, they subject the muscles and connective tissues to manageable amounts of constructive stress. This helps increase mobility and flexibility, which is just one of the ways physical therapy can improve your quality of life.
With ankle weights, you don’t even need to set aside time to exercise. Simply strap them on and go about your day as usual.
Mid-County Physical Therapy Provides Knee Rehab Services
For more information on knee rehabilitation equipment, as well as how to get the most out of it following an accident or operation, schedule an appointment with Mid-County Physical Therapy.
Our expert physical therapists are committed to helping patients just like you. Are you ready to overcome the ill effects of injury and come back stronger than ever? Call us today!