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More and more people have a problem with their knees. Not only athletes and seniors, but also runners and skiers – amateurs, overweight people and those who bought a gym pass after years of not exercising and, for example, went to step jumping classes.
We ask physiotherapist Arkadiusz Komorowski from the Department of Reuma-Orthopedics and Neuroorthopedics at the National Institute of Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation in Warsaw about how rehabilitation can help.
Agnieszka Fedorczyk: What kind of pain in the knee can physiotherapy help?
Arkadiusz Komorowski: Physiotherapy helps with all knee pain caused by overload, degenerative disease, accident or sports injury. The patient usually feels improvement after the first treatments, but this is an individual matter (so it is impossible to precisely define the duration of the therapy, regularity is the key).
In addition to manual therapy, treatment can be supported by treatments using physical therapy (e.g. ultrasound, high-energy laser or shock wave). Before ordering such procedures, one should make sure that there are no contraindications to their performance in a given patient
Can physical therapy help with recurrent patellar prolapse?
Yes. Properly conducted physiotherapy strengthens the quadriceps muscle of the thigh and relaxes another muscle – the strainer of the broad fascia, which minimizes the risk of kneecap loss. During exercises, the physiotherapist also teaches the patient to move correctly and consciously load the lower limb, so that it does not rotate it outwards (external rotation) while bending the knee joint, and that it does not twist the thigh inwards (rotating internally) in relation to the set foot, which is a common cause prolapse of the kneecap.
How to distinguish recurrent patellar prolapse from habitual?
The recurrent prolapse of the kneecap is accompanied by characteristic symptoms: swelling of the knee joint, the pain is mainly located on the medial side of the knee (which limits the mobility of the joint). During the examination, the kneecap is excessively mobile. Examination of the patient should be preceded by an in-depth interview to confirm that the condition has occurred in the past.
The diagnosed patient should be referred by a physiotherapist to an orthopedist for additional tests (functional ultrasound, X-ray – as the cause of recurrent patellar prolapse are pathological changes in the development of the skeletal system). Check that no other structures in the knee have been damaged as a result of a dislocated patella. In habitual kneecap prolapse, the kneecap moves to the side with each bend of the knee joint and orthopedic surgery is required.