Research and News
Posts tagged knee
It’s not too late to exercise years after knee arthroscopy
Feb 22nd
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Meniscus tears in the knee are relatively common, particularly in middle-aged athletic individuals. Arthroscopic surgery is often performed to remove damaged cartilage. Surprisingly, some orthopedic surgeons do not prescribe physical therapy after knee arthroscopy, feeling patients can recover on their own with a few simple exercises. Unfortunately, this may lead to long-term deficits in strength, range of motion, and function. Such deficits may predispose patients to knee osteoarthritis as well.
Scandinavian researchers wanted to evaluate the effects of a functional proprioceptive-based exercise program several years after arthroscopic meniscectomy. 30 patients at 4 years after their surgery were randomly assigned to the functional training group or a non-exercising control group. Both groups were tested for functional performance, strength, and self-reported pain and quality of life before and after the 4 month study.
The exercise group was led by a physiotherapist 3 times per week. A neuromuscular exercise program was developed including foam pads, balance boards and mini-trampolines. The program emphasized closed kinetic chain exercises, muscular coactivation, reactive neuromuscular training, and functional alignment. After 4 months, the functional exercise group had significantly better function and strength than More >
Thera-Band® program helps improve lower extremity strength and biomechanics in female athletes
Feb 1st
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears occur in about one in every 3000 Americans; 80% of these injuries are non-contact, often requiring surgical reconstruction. Female athletes have a higher incidence of ACL injury, likely due to biomechanical differences compared to males. Research has focused on exercise programs that help improve these biomechanics in order to prevent ACL injuries. Dr. Dan Herman MD, PhD received a research award from Thera-Band Academy to investigate the effects of a strengthening program on jump-landing biomechanics of female athletes at the University of North Carolina. The protocol utilized Thera-Band® elastic bands and exercise balls.
Initially, Dr. Herman published a study concluding that while the protocol was effective at improving strength, the biomechanics of the athletes remained unchanged. He concluded that strengthening alone was not sufficient, and set out to find what needed to be combined with the training program. His subsequent study combined the Thera-Band strengthening protocol with video-assisted feedback, and he compared the combined intervention to a group receiving feedback only. Dr. Herman and his colleagues found that the group receiving both feedback and strengthening improved their biomechanics more than the feedback-only group. The paper won the 2008 O’Donoghue award from the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, given to the best More >
“Prehabilitation” with Thera-Band® helps total knee replacement patients recover better
Dec 4th
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is common in older adults, affecting about 4.3 million in the United States. Knee OA sometimes leads to joint replacement surgery in advanced stages of the disease – nearly a half-million total knee replacements are performed annually in the US. Researchers at the University of Louisville wanted to evaluate the efficacy of a pre-operative exercise program (“prehabilitation”) for patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery. 54 older adults with knee OA were randomized into a control group (usual care) or an exercise group completing exercise 3 times per week (1 supervised session, and 2 at home). Patients used Thera-Band® Resistance Bands supplied by Thera-Band Academy.
Download the Total Knee Prehabilitation Exercise Program here
The study, published in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, found that prehab participants significantly increased their leg strength and mobility after surgery, while the control group did not. At 3 months after surgery, the prehab group improved performance on all 4 functional tasks, in contrast to the control group who improved in only 2 out of the 4. Lead investigator, Robert Topp PhD RN, noted, “This Thera-Band exercise program definitely supports the theory of prehabilitation in total knee patients.” Dr. Topp published a similar summary article in the ICAA More >
Thera-Band Loop Exercise Videos
Oct 13th
Check out these videos using the Thera-Band Loop for shoulder and lower extremity exercises with 3 of the nation’s top physical therapists and performance enhancement specialists:
Todd Ellenbecker, DPT, Physiotherapy Associates, Phoenix AZ
Sue Falsone PT ATC, Athletes Performance, Tempe AZ
Bart Bishop DPT, Sport & Spine Rehabilitation, Washington DC
Mike Reinold on Thera-Band Loops for Knee Rehabilitation
Jul 5th
Mike Reinold, PT ATC, Rehabilitation Coordinator and Assistant Athletic Trainer of the Boston Red Sox has a great blog on rehabilitation and conditioning at www.mikereinold.com. He’s just finishing a 7-part series on his blog on patellofemoral rehabilitation for anterior knee pain. His most recent and last post discusses using Thera-Band resistance while performing leg press or squats:
“…do you still want to squeeze that ball between your knees and emphasize hip adduction and internal rotation? I would actually recommend just the opposite. I frequently use a piece of Thera-Band (or even those new [loops] that Thera-Band just started making) around the patient’s knees during exercise. This will require the patient to isometrically control the hip from adducting and internally rotating while performing mini-squats, wall squats, leg press, and other sagittal plane exercises.”
Read Mike’s article about “The Influence of the Hip and Foot on Patellofemoral Pain.” To learn more about the new Thera-Band Loops, visit the Thera-Band Academy website and check out professional instruction videos by Todd Ellenbecker, Sue Falsone, and Barton Bishop.
