Introduction – Why is rehabilitation necessary after a knee prosthesis?
After the installation of a knee prosthesis the knee is not immediately fully loadable again. And in the following weeks it needs professional care as the muscles slowly build up and the load on the joint and the prosthesis increases. In the rehab center, there are people from the nursing, physiotherapeutic, occupational therapy and medical side, who are specialized or trained in the phase after the operation and know exactly which activities and exercises are allowed and what should be avoided. If rehabilitation is not carried out, there is a risk that the knee prosthesis will become unstable due to overloading or incorrect loading and that another operation will be necessary.
What forms are there?
Rehabilitation after a knee prosthesis can take place in different scenarios. It can take place in a full-stationary, part-stationary and also outpatient form. The patient can decide the place of rehabilitation within a limited framework.
In most cases, the rehabilitation is applied for at the clinic and the social service discusses with the medical team and the patient, as well as with the patient’s relatives, which form of rehabilitation is desired or recommended. In the course of the application to the pension or health insurance these suggestions for facilities are given, from which the patient can usually choose. Many clinics also have a rehabilitation department to which the patient is referred after the operation.
Other clinics have for example also co-operation with Reha hospitals. If the rehab is a full in-patient, the patient is usually in a rehab clinic for 3-4 weeks in which he also lives in a room for the time being. In a semi-stationary version, the patients live at home, but come to the clinic every morning and go home in the evening.
Throughout the day they take part in the clinic’s normal rehab routine. With an outpatient form of rehab, the procedure is virtually the same as with a day-care inpatient rehab. The difference lies here in other wordings in the legal text of the health insurance companies.
This topic could also interest you: Pain after knee TEPThe advantage of an ambulatory Reha is that patients are not completely torn out of life. They are usually back home in the late afternoon and can participate in everyday family life. If, for example, the spouse works long hours or in shifts, this ensures that there is still someone there who can take care of the children, relatives, pets or the household in general.
A further advantage is that the lack of a stay in a clinic means lower costs for the health insurance company, and therefore co-payments are lower or even completely eliminated. A further advantage is for younger patients, who are thus able to access adequate rehabilitation, but are still not separated from their parents. Disadvantages of the ambulatory Reha lie in the fact that depending upon situation the patients must take partly long ways on themselves.
Daily an outward and return journey must be taken from itself. This is not an option for everyone. A further disadvantage is that the person who is in the Reha measure does not come to rest.
While it is positive for the family that the father or mother is back in the afternoon and can organize the daily routine, there is a risk for the person concerned that the knee is strained and not put up as it should be after a long day of rehab. The advantage of an in-patient rehab is that the patient is bound to a fixed schedule during the whole rehab measure and is at any time in a secure environment where he can be referred to a clinic at any time in case of problems. Especially patients who would not be cared for at home, but would be on their own, are well cared for until the knee is sufficiently resilient again.
Another advantage is that the inpatient stay means that the stress caused by daily arrival and departure is not present, and the person in rehab is also relieved of the stress of everyday life at home. The disadvantage of an inpatient rehab is that one is in a clinic-like facility for a long time and is limited in the daily organization of the day away from the rehab measures. In addition, depending on the location and duration of the rehab, there is often a co-payment, since the full costs are not covered by the insurance company.It could also be seen as problematic that parents in an inpatient rehab are separated from their children for long periods of time, even though special languages can be agreed with the insurance companies depending on the age of the children and the family situation.
