If you are booked for knee surgery (or even thinking about booking) then you need to read this! I will explain the best exercise to do before knee joint replacement. The benefits from this exercise are often phenomenal for one of two reasons.
- In many cases these exercises can improve the joint problems so effectively you may not even need the surgery anymore!
- If you still need the surgery they will improve your recovery immensely. I did these before surgery with a client who in one day after surgery regained the amount of movement that it usually takes to achieve in about a week!
Hope fully you are reading this if you are considering surgery in the future. If this is you then you have everything to gain and nothing to lose (except maybe pain and stiffness)! Many people that I have treated have been told that they must have knee replacements but after a course of simple exercises are pain free and no longer need the surgery. In many cases x-rays are the only real diagnostic tool used and the muscles that control the entire joint are ignored! So what are these simple exercises you ask?
Simple exercises before knee joint replacement surgery;
Well it is not cycling or lots of strengthening exercises as most people are taught. While these may be o.k they can also cause further damage if not done correctly. I know this from first hand experience. I spent a whole year ineffectively trying to strengthen my knee muscles and things just got worse! I constantly see the same problem with clients before they start on my simple regime. I usually need to spend quite a bit of time just reassuring them that strengthening is important but not until we have addressed the first problem!
What is mission critical to get sorted first, is to improve how the muscle is moving and not just how strong it is! By this I am referring to the flexibility of the muscle. Remember muscles control the joint, so they need to be able to move freely and not be under too much tension. Mindless strengthening (including cycling) just adds to the muscle tension and in many cases things just get worse. Think about tight muscles that cross a joint, the tighter they are the more they will compress, annoy and wear out the joint! So first get the muscle stretched and moving normally. Often then the strength naturally returns through every day activity or some moderate exercise. But remember that all strengthening exercises increase muscle tension, so stretch afterwards!