Basic Physical Therapy Exercises for Knee Injuries
- Posted on: Jun 24 2021
If you have injured your knee, you may find that doing anything other than sitting down can be very painful. Knee injuries can make it hard to walk, climb stairs, or even stand for any period of time. Doing basic physical therapy exercises to help strengthen your knee can help you heal faster and get back to your regular activities. Here are a few of these basic exercises.
Make Sure It’s Safe to Exercise First
However, before you start doing any of these exercises, you want to make certain that they won’t cause even more damage. Talk to your physical therapist about your exercise plan. They will advise you on what exercises will help, what ones you need to avoid, and how much you should exercise in the beginning. If you don’t follow this advice, you could hurt your knee even more.
Leg Raises
One of the simplest exercises to do early on when your knee is still on the weak side is a straight leg raise. This helps to build up the muscles around the knee without putting a lot of strain on it. Simply lie down on the floor, bend your good knee, and put your foot flat on the ground. Left the other leg up, keeping it as straight as you can, until it’s about the same height as your bend leg.
You can also do the prone version of this exercise by lying on your stomach instead of your back. Now left the leg with the injured knee up behind you, again keeping the leg as straight as you can. Hold it in the air for a few seconds, then lower it before repeating. As your leg and knee get stronger, you can start wearing a light ankle weight while doing these exercises.
Calf Raise
Stand behind a chair, sofa, or other support. Raise up on your toes as high as you can, using the support to keep your balance if you need to. Hold the pose for a second or two, then lower yourself back down. Once you’ve reached the point that your knee can take some weight, you can lift one foot off the ground while raising up on your toes.
These are just a few basic exercises for your knees. If you’d like to learn more, the team at Maximum Orthopedics can help you out.
Posted in: Blog, Orthopedics, Work Injuries