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Month: November 2017

  • 5 Exercises to Regain Strength and Mobility Following Knee Replacement Surgery

    5 Exercises to Regain Strength and Mobility Following Knee Replacement Surgery

    Americans are living longer than they used to, and requiring various kinds of advanced healthcare to ensure they remain active and vital as they age.  One of the health interventions which is becoming increasingly common is knee replacement surgery.  According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, more than 600,000 knee replacement surgeries are performed in the United States each year.  That number is expected to grow to more than 3 million over the next decade. 

    Physical Therapy Will Improve Outcomes

    If you’ve had knee replacement surgery, your healthcare providers will work closely with you to ensure you heal properly and get back to your normal activities as quickly as possible.  Among other things, they’ll recommend a regimen of physical therapy, including exercises to increase muscle flexibility and strength, promote healing by increasing blood flow, and improve mobility. 

    Following are 5 simple, knee-strengthening exercises which are among the most common, and most beneficial, to help you heal after knee replacement surgery (plan on doing about 15 repetitions of each exercise several times each day for about 6 weeks):

    1. The Knee Extension: This exercise will help to strengthen your quadriceps and give your knee greater flexibility.  To perform it, you should sit in a firm chair.  While sitting, slowly raise your foot and gently extend your knee to straighten your leg.  Hold this position for 5 seconds.  Now, slowly (and without jerking) lower your foot back down to the floor.
    2. The Quad Squeeze: Your quadricep muscles are located at the front of your thigh.  These muscles help support the knee joint, so it’s important to strengthen them after knee replacement.

      To perform your quad squeezes, lie flat on your back with your legs extended.  Contract your quadricep muscles.  As you contract, keep your leg as straight as possible, attempting to press the back of the knee against the bed (don’t apply more pressure than is comfortable for you).  Hold the contraction for about 5 seconds, relax and repeat 10 to 15 times.
    3. The Short Arc Quad: Following surgery, it’s important to regain range of motion in your hip and knee. The short arc quad is designed to achieve this result.

      Again, lie on your back with your legs extended. Support your knee with a blanket or rolled towel. Your knee will be bent slightly. Slowly lift your heel off the bed to straighten your leg and hold it for about 5 seconds.  Now, lower your heel slowly back down.
    4. The Heel Slide: This exercise works the quads and the hamstring muscles.  Like the short arc quad, it’s purpose is to improve range of motion.  Lie on your back with your legs extended.  Now, gently flex your hip and your new knee by lifting the knee off the bed and sliding your foot on the bed.  While performing this exercise, be sure to keep your other leg straight.  Hold this for approximately 10 seconds. 
    5. The Ankle Pump: The ankle pump exercise is designed to strengthen your lower-leg muscles and improve blood circulation.  When you stimulate the flow of blood in your legs, you reduce the risk of swelling and, more importantly, blood clots.  To perform ankle pumps, you should lie flat on your back while keeping your legs extended.  Prop your ankle using a blanket or a rolled-up towel.  Flex your foot.  You want to push your heel away from your body with your toes pointed up and towards your body.  As with the quad squeezes, hold the flexing for about 5 minutes.

    One of the benefits of these and similar post knee-replacement exercises is that you don’t need any fancy equipment, and you can do them on your own in your home.  That said, you should always consult with an experienced physical therapist or other healthcare provider before initiating any new exercise regimen.  These are highly-trained professionals with the knowledge and experience to ensure the exercises you perform are safe and will help you regain the strength and flexibility to return to your normal activities.

    Our Goal:  To Help You Get Back to Your Life

    At Church Home LifeSpring, our focus is on improving your skills to get you back to the life and the activities you enjoyed before your surgery.  To learn more about our short-term rehabilitation, long-term care and hospice/respite care services, contact us today.

  • 4 Home Exercises for Hip Replacement Rehabilitation

    As most people age, their bones become more brittle and a certain amount of a stability is lost in day to day life. This issue is even more pronounced in women who are highly prone to osteoporosis. The weakening of the bones means that even the smallest misstep could possibly end in a hip replacement and months of slow and careful recovery. While rest is an important part of your healing process, so is regaining strength and stability in both legs with the new artificial hip. The best way to recover comfortably and efficiently is to find exercises you can do both in bed and on the go. This way you can smoothly alternate between rest and strength training as your recovery allows.

    To help you get started, here’s a quick list of five safe and beneficial exercises you can do right after a hip surgery.

    1) Ankle Stretches

    Ankle stretches can be done from the bed with your legs stretched straight out beside each other. You can do them lying down or sitting up Make sure to keep your knees facing upright but not locked. Point the toe of your leg with the replacement and then slowly raise and flex it. Do this as many times as is comfortable and you can repeat about every ten minutes if you care to.

    Another variation is to start with your toes pointed and imagine they can see. Keeping your knee straight, turn your ankle to the left as if it were “looking” at something over there, then turn to the right. This exercise will loosen and strengthen the muscles that help you balance and control your steps.

    2) Hip Abduction

    Abduction in a medical sense means to move a limb away from the midline and you can strengthen another set of leg muscles by doing so either laying on the bed or standing braced against something to maintain your balance. If in bed, start with your legs straight and parallel with each other then slowly move one leg away until you feel light stretching. Hold it there for two or three seconds and then slowly bring it back to center. To do a hip abduction standing up, brace yourself against the back of a sturdy chair and stand with your legs straight but not locked. Slowly lift your recovering leg with the knee facing straight ahead of you. Hold for two or three seconds and lower.

    3) Hip Extension

    Hip extensions are something you can do standing up after you’ve been recovering for a while. The good news is that you’re already familiar with them in bed form. To perform a hip extension, stand braced against something with your legs straight and facing forward. Slowly raise one leg out and away from you, staying in line with your body. Hold it for two or three seconds and lower. This is like the bed hip abduction but does require additional balance and control to do safely. If you add this exercise to your regime, consider having someone on hand to spot you just in case. 

    4) Walking

    Finally, the simple act of getting around can be an incredibly beneficial aspect to your recovery. The key to strengthening your leg with every step is to step evenly with very little sway. Go as slow as you need to in order to feel safe and use a walker, crutch, or cane to stabilize in order to avoid the risk of another fall. Remember to stretch and tense your leg correctly with every step to help the leg heal more completely.

    Going through hip surgery doesn’t have to mean losing our strength or mobility. All you need is a great regime of post-surgery exercises to keep you active and soon have that let back in good working condition. For more senior lifestyle tips and tricks, contact us today!