What to Expect from Physical Therapy for Chronic Knee Pain

Has your chronic knee pain reached the point where it prevents you from doing many of the activities you love? It’s time to seek medical treatment. Physical therapy is the gold standard for the treatment of knee pain. 

Dr. Mohamed Hablas, a board-certified physical therapist at Outreach Manual Physical Therapy PC, provides expert treatment for chronic knee pain. Following is an outline of what you can expect when you start a course in physical therapy. 

Questionnaire on the impact of knee pain

Before your first appointment, you complete a questionnaire that asks how your chronic knee pain impacts your life. You answer detailed questions about how much difficulty you have walking, climbing stairs, and sitting down and getting up from a chair; whether you have weakness in your knee and if it buckles, and the degree to which you can bend your knee.  

Initial assessment 

At your first appointment, Dr. Hablas assesses your knee function by asking you to perform specific physical movements involving your knee, leg, hips, feet, and back. 

For example, you move your leg in specific ways to determine your range of motion and which movements cause pain. Dr. Hablas asks you to walk across the room to examine your walking gait. He may ask you to climb a couple of stairs on equipment in the office. Dr. Hablas gently puts pressure on areas of your knee to find the most painful sites. 

Dr. Hablas asks about your current ability to exercise and the type of shoes you wear. You may be aggravating your condition unintentionally. Dr. Hablas makes recommendations to help ease your discomfort. 

Manual therapies and passive modalities

Dr. Hablas uses gentle massage and joint mobilization techniques to ease your painful knee joint stiffness and break up scar tissue. He may gently pull on your leg to open up the joint. This therapy helps your joints move using the correct motion again. 

For passive modalities, you may receive ultrasound, ice, heat, or a TENS unit to help ease discomfort. 

Gentle stretches and range of motion exercises

Dr. Hablas teaches you gentle stretches to loosen tight, constricted muscles in your hip and leg. You start completing gentle stretches and exercises to increase the lost range of motion. These include but aren’t limited to hamstring stretches, quadriceps stretches, leg lifts, flexing and extending your knee when seated, heel slides, and stepping up on a stair. 

You perform these stretches and exercises at home two or three times daily. Dr. Hablas tells you how many repetitions of each exercise you should do. 

Muscle strengthening 

If you’ve stopped moving much because of knee pain, your back, hip, knee, leg, and ankle muscles are weak. Dr. Hablas teaches you exercises to strengthen your core (muscles in your abdomen, lower back, glutes, and diaphragm) and your leg and ankle muscles. 

You start exercises by lying on your back on a table and eventually move to exercises while standing. You use machines in the office geared to resistance training, which builds strength. 

You continue performing the exercises at home and during your office visits. You won’t see progress if you fail to do your exercises at home. 

Functional training 

Your therapist helps you develop proper walking gait and may recommend custom orthotics to improve your gait. You may need a brace or other aid when performing certain activities. 

You should continue to perform stretches and exercises at home after your physical therapy ends. This way, you help prevent constricted muscles that force your legs into improper movements, creating stress on your knees. 

If you have chronic knee pain, call Outreach Manual Physical Therapy PC or book an appointment online today. We help you get moving again.