There are many different negative things that can impact your knees over time as you grow older or even sustain an injury. Depending on what has happened to your knee, you may need to be seen by a healthcare professional or a physical therapist for effective treatment to start feeling better. Treating your knee can help your knee to recover faster as it sets you up to be using that knee for the rest of your life. Physical therapy is a great way to strengthen your knee muscles and rebuild what might have been injured or lost over time. There are several different knee conditions that one could encounter and it is important to know what each one means and which ones would respond favorably to physical treatment.
Arthritis
Arthritis is a condition that impacts your joints and causes them to deteriorate over time. This mainly occurs in the knees, hands, and hips. Arthritis affects thousands of Americans and physical therapy has been proven to be beneficial for those who have arthritis specifically in their knees. This kind of therapy helps to strengthen and protect the muscles around the joints so that the bones don’t rub together and cause more pain. When the cartilage around your bones and joints has deteriorated, it makes doing daily activities difficult. Actively doing the exercises that are recommended will help to fortify your joints so that you can better withstand your daily activities and protect all the parts of your knee.
Meniscus Tear
When your knee has been badly twisted, it can result in a meniscus tear. These can be pretty painful but through the use of physical therapy, it can help you well on your way to recovering more quickly than you may have previously thought. When the muscles around your knee are strengthened, it can help your tear to heal faster and create a more protective layer for when you are engaging in your day to day activities. Idaho Falls physical therapy can also help you to learn ways to make your life easier when you have had a knee injury. Productive ways to move and exercise can be learned after a knee injury to improve your quality of life.
Ligament Sprain
When you have sprained a ligament in your knee, there is a good chance you will need a brace to help promote healing and decrease your swelling. Along with other knee injuries, ligaments sprains too can be helped and effectively treated with physical therapy. Focusing on strengthening the joints and muscles around the knee is also what a physical therapist would do in this case. Stretching will also be included to promote flexibility and stability so that you can gain some traction on your healing process. The whole idea behind physical therapy is to get you back to the point you were before any injury or deterioration has occurred. This can happen by regularly using the exercises and recommendations from your physical therapist to promote healing, injury prevention, and a quick recovery.
