Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy is an integral part of the rehabilitation and post-operative treatment of a knee TEP and begins on the day of the operation. At the beginning, the main focus is on passive mobilization, manual therapy and lymph drainage to stimulate the metabolism. Cold applications can also be used to relieve pain and reduce swelling.

The physiotherapist will draw up a patient-specific training plan and set interim goals together with the patient. A large part of the physiotherapeutic work involves active and passive exercises to increase mobility, coordination, stability and muscle strength. The patient performs these exercises under supervision in individual or group therapy.

The treating physiotherapist will adjust the intensity of the training to the patient’s progress and will also make sure that the patient’s movements are correct. After the outpatient rehabilitation is completed, many patients are still prescribed physiotherapy until their performance is sufficiently restored. Thanks to various therapy approaches, physiotherapy after knee TEP allows for the best possible and complex treatment of the patients, so that the healing process is influenced very positively and the patients can resume their accustomed daily routine more quickly.

Why are exercises important?

Exercises are indispensable after the use of a knee TEP to ensure a quick healing process and to make the knee fully usable again. The exercises involve a variety of different movements that serve to stabilize, mobilize, strengthen and support the knee. Due to the operation and the previous illness of the old knee joint, the knee is usually very badly affected, i.e. the mobility was often insufficient even before the operation and the muscle strength has decreased.

In order not to further promote these processes after the operation, light strengthening exercises are often started before the operation. After the operation, the first thing to do is to make the knee mobile again as quickly as possible. The aim is to bend the knee by 90° in the first 7-14 days, so that basic movements such as climbing stairs or getting up from a chair are possible.

A physiotherapist will draw up an exercise plan specially adapted to the patient, which will always be adapted to the current progress during the course of rehabilitation. An example exercise at the beginning of post-operative treatment is a simple strengthening exercise in which the patient lifts the operated leg slightly from the bed and holds it in the air for 10 seconds. The scope and complexity of the exercises are then increased in the following days, so that the patient initially moves from more passive exercises to increasingly active exercises. More exercises, but also more detailed information on this topic can be found here:

Exercises for the knee joint
Exercises against knee pain
Knee school
Exercises for the knee
Physiotherapy exercises knee