0:00
Hey guys, Tony Maritado here
0:02
So I want to talk about how long you can expect physical therapy appointments to take after
0:08
your total knee replacement. So I'm going to assume that you've had your total knee replacement
0:13
Now you're ready to go to your first day of outpatient orthopedic physical therapy
0:17
Maybe you had home health therapy come to the home. Maybe you didn't
0:21
It depends on your surgical protocol. But we're going to talk about outpatient physical therapy
0:27
You're going to the clinic. So the first session is going to be the initial evaluation
0:33
Some physical therapists will include treatment on the initial evaluation. Other therapists will not
0:38
It really just depends on your preference as the patient, what you can tolerate
0:43
I know when I'm seeing a patient within two or three days of surgery, they are so fatigued
0:49
they are so tired, they really don't have much energy to do anything
0:54
Sometimes they're still feeling nauseous. Sometimes they still feeling the side effects of the pain medication So in those cases we might do 15 to 20 minutes the first day and that it And it the initial evaluation
1:06
It gives me an opportunity to see the incision, measure range of motion
1:11
confirm that they're doing the basic ankle pumps and heel slides, and then just provide them the reassurance to know everything looks great
1:20
you're moving in the right direction, go home, relax, recover, just spend some time on your feet
1:26
So in my personal physical therapy clinic, the first session, if it's within that first week of time after surgery, probably going to be a 15 to 20 minute appointment
1:38
Then when we schedule our follow-up treatments, those also will be 15 to 20 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes if the patient is feeling particularly well
1:47
There are other physical therapy clinics that will do hour-long sessions. it really just depends on your tolerance as the patient
1:56
the preference of your physical therapist and what we believe is best for you at that moment Now as you improve as you regain strength as you improve your range of motion as your stamina endurance increase
2:10
you know, a lot of patients will have anemia after a total knee replacement. They'll fatigue really
2:15
quickly so they can't tolerate a full session. But as that improves, maybe by the fourth week
2:21
the sixth week, you'll see that the duration of physical therapy sessions will increase
2:26
you might be doing 40 to 60 minute sessions. You'll spend more time performing exercises on your own
2:34
And then the therapist will work with you performing manual therapy, some stretches
2:38
and more complex balance and coordination exercises that we wouldn't want you doing on your own
2:45
And then, of course, if it comes time for a progress report, if you're going to see your surgeon
2:51
many surgeons do a follow-up visit at either two, four, or six weeks after surgery
2:56
We the therapists are going to perform a progress report We going to get new measurements We going to look at the range of motion We going to look at the swelling We might take some photos to look at how the incision is healing And with that those sessions might take longer
3:12
So I typically tell my patients, you know, the initial evaluation will be really quick
3:17
and simple, 20 to 30 minutes. The follow-up treatments will start at around 30 minutes and increase in duration to a
3:25
maximum of 60 as their endurance and tolerance improves. but when we're going to do a progress report or we're doing a discharge visit
3:34
meaning you've graduated physical therapy and you're ready to go on your own, those sessions will also be a little bit on the longer side, 45 to 60 minutes
3:42
because we will be doing more tests and measures to document the progress
3:47
and really your success as a physical therapy patient. So that should give you an idea
3:54
I would love to hear from you guys. I know there are some clinics that do 30-minute sessions for everything
3:58
There are some clinics that do longer, some clinics that do shorter. What did your clinic do
4:03
Let me know in the comments below, and I'll catch you on the next video
