Exercises and Activities To Avoid After You've Replaced Your Knee

Our knees are the most complex, versatile, and heavily used joints we have on our bodies. The different components in the joint (knee bones, cartilage, meniscus, muscles, ligaments, tendons, bursa, joint, patella) work to support your body and transfer force between your hips and feet, and damage to this joint can make lots of lower body movement very difficult.

If damage from injury or other conditions is bad enough to warrant getting a knee replacement surgery, rehabilitation after is vital restoring normal function, mobility, and balance. This means using the right exercises and regimens to recover, so let’s examine the things you should and shouldn’t do when undergoing physical therapy for this procedure.

If you live in the Fort Worth, Texas, area and you’re recovering from knee replacement surgery or some other orthopedic procedure, Dr. Joseph Daniels and his team at Southwest Orthopedic
Associates can help.

What to expect after a knee replacement

Depending on the type of knee replacement surgery you undergo, the timeline for recovery can take around 12 weeks, with people usually being able to walk unassisted after around three. The rehabilitation process begins from the moment you wake up from surgery, and is often an outpatient procedure, though some people do stay in the hospital a short time into their recovery.

The focus of physical therapy is on restoring your walking pattern (to improve your gait), improving range of motion, and strength training in the first week, and over the next few weeks you’re building on those basic blocks and eventually move around without any aid. 

By six weeks, swelling and inflammation should have gone down, and you will have dramatic improvement in your movement. Keep up the regimen and by week 12, you should have full function of your knee(s).

Exercises to help build strength and mobility

Walking, exercising, and stair climbing are some great types of exercise to help build mobility and strength while healing up from surgery, and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) suggests many techniques to improve your knees, including:

• Quadricep sets: lie on your back and tighten the muscles in one thigh, keeping it as straight as you can for up to 10 seconds, then switch after 10 seconds

• Ankle pumps: also on your back with one of your legs straight up, move your foot up and down for up to three minutes, alternating periodically

• Bed-supported knee bends: on your back, straighten your leg and tighten your thigh muscles, then lift your leg several inches up and hold up to 10 seconds in place

• Standing knee bends: stand up using a rail, walker or crutches, lift your thigh, and bend your knee as much as you can; hold the position for 10 seconds

• Stationary bike: adjust yourself so your feet just touch the pedal, move backward first until you become comfortable, then move forward 15-20 minutes

Exercises/things to avoid

Avoid these activities at all cost during recovery:

Running and jumping

Doing either of these, especially shortly after surgery, will strain the joint muscles and ligaments, thus increasing the risks of your injury requiring more healing.

Kneeling or squatting

Doing either of these can also stress the musculoskeletal tissue, leading to strains, sprains, and more possible damage to surrounding tissue.

Intense physical activities

In addition to running and jumping, anything that overexerts the joint and tissue runs the same risks, like high-impact sports or anything that potentially compromises the implant.

Neglecting regimen/physical therapy

Physical therapy helps to restore function in your repaired knee(s) in a gradual, systematic way, and altering or stopping the rehabilitation can slow down progress or possibly make things worse.

Your knees are in a delicate position after surgery and healing, so avoiding anything that can cause further damage is essential to getting back on your feet as soon as you can. 

For help getting back in action after knee replacement surgery, make an appointment with Dr. Daniels and Southwest Orthopedic Associates today.