Physical therapy after knee surgery

Knee surgery can include procedures involving cartilage, ligaments, the kneecap, or a joint replacement, so the safe pace varies. Your therapist considers the surgical instructions, weight-bearing limits, brace settings, swelling, wound status, and muscle control. Sessions may include gentle movement, walking mechanics, strengthening around the hip and thigh, balance work, and practice of stairs or transfers. The aim is coordinated recovery: protecting healing tissue while preventing avoidable stiffness and weakness.

Keep the written restrictions where you can see them and follow the exact exercise technique demonstrated. Prepare a clear walking route, wear supportive footwear, and use prescribed supports rather than rushing to walk unaided. Break household tasks into manageable periods and allow recovery between them. Tell the therapist if an exercise causes catching, giving way, marked swelling, or pain that lingers and changes your movement. Do not compare your pace with another person who had a different operation.

Call the surgical team for wound drainage, spreading redness, fever, rapidly increasing swelling, or pain that is becoming harder to control. Get urgent help for new breathing difficulty, chest pain, fainting, or a painful swollen calf. Contact the team promptly after a fall, a new deformity, sudden inability to bear weight, or a knee that suddenly locks. Pause the relevant exercise until you have advice.

Ask which tissues need protection, how much weight you may place through the leg, whether a brace must be worn during exercises, and what improvement should guide progression. Also ask how to position the knee for sleep, how to manage swelling, and which symptoms require a same-day call.