Knee Rehabilitation the Right Way for a Healthy Good Knee - Avoid these Three Common Mistakes that Cause You More Knee pain, Loss of Strength and Early Arthritis

Let's discuss getting proper knee rehabilitation from a qualified physical therapist, following any injury or surgery ...

Rehabilitation Rule #1 - Return to activities and sports only when you are 100% pain free.

The most important factor in returning to your level of pre-injury function is to be 100% knee pain free, first. Attempting to return while you're still in pain will be detrimental to your cause - it will actually slow down your recovery, because proper muscle contraction is prevented by pain. You simply will be unable to effectively contract your quadriceps and hamstrings, thereby risking further knee injury.

Rehabilitation Rule #2 - Return to activities and sports only when your knee's range of motion (ROM) is at least 100%, or as close to that as possible.

Stretch and improve the your range of motion in both knee flexion and extension with appropriate knee rehab exercises.

Rehabilitation Rule #3 - Return to activities and sports only when your knee strength is at least 80% (preferably more).

Strengthen with appropriate exercises and loads until your strength in all the joint muscles is more than 80 % of pre-injury levels.

Strengthening exercises may include both close chain and open chain types.

Knee exercises target the quadriceps, VMO (Vastus medialis obliquus), hamstrings and hip adductors. Your calf muscles may need strengthening as well.

Rehabilitation Rule #4 - Don't forget about Neuromuscular Re-Training

After an injury, your joint goes into 'protect mode' - your muscles no longer fire in the correct pattern, but instead, in a protective one. That protective pattern helps splint your joint for recovery - but does not reverse by itself. Your knee therapy must therefore involve neuromuscular re-training in order to get back to the correct knee muscle firing pattern - or you'll be at risk for re-injury.

Rehabilitation Rule #5 - Proprioception Training

After a knee injury, your joint may lose it's orientation in space (called proprioception). Your physical therapist should check for this and provide special proprioception exercises, if needed. Those exercises are performed while your foot is unstable, deliberately forcing you to balance.

Rehabilitation Rule #6 - If required, wear a knee brace.

If you had a knee sprain or surgery for ligament reconstruction, you'll need to wear a proper protective knee brace for 12 months. It takes that long for the ligament fibers to strengthen properly and the entire ligament to heal back to full strength.

Please - always get your knee examined, diagnosed and treated by qualified medical professional.

Hopefully, this information will help you with your knee rehab and give you back a normal knee once again.