Knee Injury Advice

Cork Emergency Departments

You have recently injured your knee. If your movement is very restricted you may be given crutches. Your doctor will refer you to physiotherapy if it is required. In the first 48–72 hours, you may experience a lot of pain and swelling. During this time, to help the pain and keep the swelling down, you should:

• Keep the leg elevated when resting
• Apply ice treatment for not more than 15 minutes at a time about every 2-3 hours for the first few days, then 3-4 times a day until the pain and swelling have gone. You can use ice, or a packet of frozen peas, wrapped in a damp towel, never apply ice directly to the skin
• If you have been given an elastic bandage, take this off when you go to bed and put it on again when you get up in the morning
• You should take painkillers e.g. Paracetamol to help the pain and inflammation

After 48 hours you can start the following exercises. They should be done four times a day, followed by the ice treatment.

Exercises

Repeat the following exercises 10 times or as pain allows.

To maintain the strength of your thigh (quads) muscle.

• Static Quads: Sit on a bed with your leg straight, push your knee firmly down onto the bed to tighten your thigh muscle. Hold for a count of 5
• Inner Range Quads: Sit on a bed with your leg straight, place a rolled up towel under your knee. Push your knee down onto the towel and straighten your leg. Hold for a count of 5
• Quads/Knee Flexion: Sitting on chair, straighten out your knee and hold for a count of 5. Then bend your knee back as far as possible

To regain the bend in your knee.

• Knee Flexion: Lying on your back slide your heel up the bed bending your knee and hip as much as possible

Reference: PT-PHY-013 Sept 08