Written by Karen at Physiofusion

We all like to find a therapist who understands our problem, whether that might be a sports injury and we find a physio who also plays the same sport, so they have an understanding of the stresses that ‘our game’ can cause on the knee, or we find that a particular physio has had knee problems themselves so we reason that they must have sympathy with our own knee issue.

Well, writing this whilst at home recuperating from knee surgery myself, and reflecting on how surgical techniques and rehabilitation has progressed over the past 20 years, I think I can confidently say I’m ‘’good with knees’’!!

I had my first anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction over 20 years ago, when the post-operative routine was to be non weight bearing on crutches for 3 months and total recovery back to sport took 9-12 months. Fast forward to 6 years ago when I had the same operation on the other knee, and I was back at work in 3 weeks walking pretty well. Similarly with cartilage tears, which are a common footballing injury, we know from research done on the early professional footballers who had the whole cartilage removed, that the chances of going on to develop osteoarthritis in later life is massively increased, so now surgeon’s either repair the tear in the cartilage, or if that’s not possible, simply remove the torn portion and try to leave the rest intact. Which is why I’m sitting at home writing this, confidently expecting to be able to still play golf in 10 years’ time!

I’m also confident, however, that my patients will be getting good care in my absence, because, whilst my associates at Physiofusion might not all be golfers, and most will not have had knee operations, I know that their physiotherapy training and depth of knowledge about the knee as a joint and what can potentially cause problems with it, means that they are also ‘’good with knees’’.

Of course I know the exercises I should be doing to get my knee back to full strength, but we can all potentially look these up on the internet (and many patients do). What’s equally if not more important, is to know what to do later on in the rehab process, in order to be able to return to my chosen sport or activity safely, and it’s this area of expertise that physios excel at. For example, after any knee issue where movement range has been limited, it’s not just the muscles around the knee which are weakened, but also around the hip. The gluteal muscles which make up the buttock also get weak, and therefore less able to support the leg sufficiently in running, jumping or landing. Balance, too, is compromised and needs retraining in order for the knee to function well.  Just try standing on one leg and doing a slight knee bend, to see how hard your buttock muscle (and ankle and foot) work to keep you in balance!

We know that keeping active as we age is the best way to stay healthy – living longer, living well – so to help you do that, see a good physio!