How to Do Corner Knee Exercises
According to information published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine, injuries to the corner of the knee can be disabling, leaving the patient unable to perform anything but the most rudimentary drills throughout much of the rehabilitation process. Knee exercises following a corner knee injury are necessarily benign in nature, limited to performance of passive range of motion drills for several months. You can perform these corner knee exercises by yourself or with the assistance of a partner with a few simple steps.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Place your hand on the outside of your knee, pressing inward lightly with around 10 pounds of resistance. Keep your hand located here, providing resistance throughout all of these exercises. According to information from Frank Noyes, MD, a knee surgeon operating at the Cincinnati Sportsmedicine and Orthopaedic Center in Ohio, this is necessary to protect the structure of the knee following a corner knee injury.
-
2
Perform a simple knee bend, reaching underneath the leg with your other hand and pulling the leg up towards the chest as far as you can. Stop and reverse if you feel sharp or stabbing pains, or anything else beside mild stretching discomfort. Move slowly throughout the exercise, holding the stretch in the peak position for 10 to 15 seconds during every repetition and repeating the entire drill 10 to 15 times in total to maintain flexibility in the joint while you are recovering from surgery.
-
-
3
Perform passive knee rotations by bending your knee so that your injured leg is at a 45 degree angle with your foot flat on the bed or any other flat surface. While keeping your leg at the same angle throughout, rotate outward at the knee and hip, attempting to touch your little toe and the outward portion of your knee to the bed. Stop when you feel more than moderate discomfort and reverse directions, attempting to touch the inside of your knee to your other leg and your big toe to the bed. Continue rocking the leg back and forth slowly for 10 to 20 repetitions to improve bloodflow and maintain flexibility in the joint.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Perform these exercises with the help of a partner if you find it too difficult to move through the appropriate range of motion while applying pressure to the side of your knee. Be sure to communicate your physical state to your partner throughout performance of the drills to avoid accidentally overstretching the joint.
Aim to practice these exercises at least once a day, but do not assume that more is better. Reasonableness is the key to optimal recovery, so listen to your body and back off if you feel any type of unnatural discomfort or increasing levels of pain while performing these exercises, reducing the frequency of practice
