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Knee flexion stretch after total knee replacement and knee extension stretch after total knee replacement surgery.
Related Video Links:
Prone Knee Extension - https://youtu.be/aoUwY0FP39o
Seated Knee Flexion - https://youtu.be/cysC5eOJGF8
Incision Sensitivity - https://youtu.be/MpH33Oms0ao
About the author:
Hi, my name is Anthony (Tony) Maritato, PT. I am a licensed physical therapist and owner of Total Therapy Solutions. I have specialized in helping clients recover from total knee replacement surgery since 2002 and have created this video to help YOU.
Total Therapy Solutions
5900 Long Meadow Dr
Middletown, OH 45005
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0:00
Good morning guys, Tony Maritatto here, licensed physical therapist, and I want to talk to you today about two laying down self-mobilization exercises to work on both knee extension and knee flexion
0:12
Now I've got a couple other videos on the channel talking about these positions, but I haven't updated those videos for a while, so we're going to update those videos
0:20
So my favorite way for patients to work on knee flexion if they're at home
0:26
It's always kind of hard to explain the bed setup, but just imagine for a second if I'm sitting sideways at the edge of my bed, right
0:35
So the head of the bed is there. The footrest is down there. I'm sitting my feet are on the floor
0:41
If you have a taller bed, that's okay. But basically what we're going to do is you're going to have the surgical leg hanging off the side of the bed
0:49
you're going to scoot forward a little bit so there's some space between the side of the bed
0:54
and the calf muscle and then you're going to lay down and so as I lay down effectively what's
1:01
happening is I'm extending the hip while the knee is being flexed if you have a slightly higher bed
1:09
in fact I going to grab some pillows if you have a higher bed it even better but if you If you have a low bed that okay You put a couple pillows underneath the thigh and then what you gonna do
1:23
is again you're gonna lay back and you're just gonna let that leg rest in
1:29
this flexed position. Now I've got the pillow touching the calf muscles so I'm
1:34
getting a little bit of support. I can do a little bit of this kind of bouncing
1:38
motion and you can imagine how every time it comes down I'm trying to relax
1:43
the quadricep muscle I'm trying to let everything go loose a little bit of
1:48
discomfort is okay but once you get to the point where there's a sharp or really
1:52
noticeable pain you're not getting any more benefit on flexion the way to
1:58
improve flexion is to be able to relax in the flexed position if your bed is
2:05
high enough you can just remove those pillows and let the leg hang or dangle
2:10
down completely as you improve you might be able to tap your heel against the
2:16
side of the bed if this becomes too easy you can always slide forward a little
2:21
bit more and go get a little more knee flexion in there of course we could use
2:26
the non leg crossover in front to get it if it becomes too uncomfortable I can use the non leg behind my knee to kind of help support it and lift it But the idea is that I
2:40
find that patients who have a target, who have something that they can feel with their heel
2:48
tend to do better when they're working on knee flexion. Now we're going to flip over and we're
2:53
to talk about knee extension for a minute. So let's pretend your flexion is coming along and you want
2:59
to work on that last little bit of three to five degrees of extension. There's two positions that I
3:05
like best both of them laying on your stomach. Now if you have low back issues, if you have spinal
3:11
stenosis or any kind of arthritis in the low back, this is not the right exercise for you and that's
3:17
totally fine. There's lots of other exercises you can do but if you don't mind laying on your stomach
3:23
Then one of the best ways to do it, these are called prone hangs
3:28
is I literally lay on my stomach. I put my kneecap off of the edge of the bed
3:33
So this is the side of the bed. My kneecap is not touching the bed at all
3:38
And I just relax in this position. I let gravity do the work. I could do a couple bounces again as long as I don feel any sharp pain A little bit of discomfort is acceptable Pain is not And I might spend three to five minutes in this position I could hook my non leg
3:56
under my surgical leg to give me a little support if I need a break. I can hook my non-surgical leg
4:03
on top if I feel like I need a little bit of extra pressure to increase the extension while I'm in
4:11
this position. If this is too uncomfortable, you can come up a little bit higher so there's a little
4:18
bit of support, but I will say that if the knee is on the bed, there's going to be some pressure on
4:23
the incision. Now, if your incision is sensitive, there are other videos on the channel talking
4:29
about desensitizing a sensitive incision. So guys, these are just two recommendations. It is
4:35
like an endless list of exercises that can be done to improve flexion improve extension these
4:42
are the kinds of things that i want you to talk to your physical therapist about because your
4:47
physical therapist is amazing at coming up with alternative ideas new things really new things
4:53
to do the same thing new ways to do the same thing which is improve flexion improve extension
4:58
guys thanks so much for supporting the channel please subscribe if you haven't and i'll catch
5:02
you on the next video
#Physical Therapy
#Yoga & Pilates