Knee microfracture surgery and physical therapy exercise

Some of the other active and passive exercises in addition to a range of motion exercise your physical therapist will perform on you are

Quadriceps setting exercises

Getting your quads in a proper orientation after knee microfracture surgery is an important step to regain the normal lower extremity function and range of motion. It is an important step in quad strengthening as well here is how to perform it

• Lie on your spine with your knee straight
• Places a small rolled towel underneath your knee
• Now gently press the back of your knee into the towel by tightening your quad muscle on top of your thigh
• Hold this contraction for 5 seconds
• Now slowly release the tension
• Repeat this exercise 15 times
• This can be done several times each day to improve your quad function and contraction

Short arc quadriceps

These are another set of exercises that helps to strengthen the quads after microfracture surgery for performing this exercise

• Lie on your back with your operative leg straight
• Place any ball such as a soccer ball or a volleyball underneath your operative knee
• While keeping the ball under your knee lift your heel off the ground and straighten your leg out
• You will feel your quad muscles contracting
• Hold this for 3 seconds and then slowly lower your leg
• Repeat it 15 to 20 times

Standing Weight Shifts

After an initial postoperative period, your physician may not allow you to place any weight on your leg and you are more likely to walk with the help of crutches or Walker. Once you are allowed to put weight on your operative leg, your physical therapist may perform gentle weight shifts.

For performing this simply stand up with your crutches and both feet on the floor now rhythmically shift your weight from one side of the body to another

In the beginning, you may feel abnormal or painful but with time this will become normal for you

Balance and Proprioception Exercises

If you realize 40% of your walking is on one foot

For example, during climbing stairs, one foot is on your ground while the other swing forwards in the air; this means that maintaining a proper balance is essential. For maintaining balance some of the exercises are

• Single leg stance on a balance and on an unsteady surface
• Single leg stance with close and open eyes
• Single leg stance on BOSU or BAPS board

These exercises are an essential part of your rehabilitation program. In these exercises, artificial situations are produced where you may be a little unsteady and your body is prepared for this unsteadiness of real life.

You may feel these exercises challenging but remember to remain safe and keep a source near you that you can hold when falling

Engage yourself completely in physical therapy exercises in coordination with your physical therapist so you can recover from the postoperative effects of knee microfracture surgery as soon as possible

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