Knee Injury & Self Rehab & Biking

Yivs_87

Well, exactly when I was done rehabing my ankle (yay for December ankle injury) and I was about to start working out once again, I got my knee sprained.

Thankfully, it's a mild sprain, no tears, no breaks, nothing too horrible. There was hardly any swelling and the non stop pain was gone in the first 24 hrs. It's been a week since then and I'm still in a knee immobilizer (big one from mid thigh to mid calf). With it I can walk around with no pain, my knee feels stable-ish, I'm able to extend my leg properly without pain. I have to wear the immobilizer for 3 more days according to doctor's recommendations and then I'm onto rehabing my knee.

My intentions are to start with ROM exercises as described in this article http://www.physioprescription.com/2014/06/14/knee-sprain-treatment-heal-strong-self-treatment/

It looks reasonable as well as it more or less confirms what I've been reading for the past week as recommendations for rehab.

If all goes well, I intend on going onto biking. It was going to be my out-of-the-house cardio prior to the injury and after reading quite some bit it seems that it's also great for knee rehab.

Now, the health system over here is worse than bad. From two "experts" about two different injuries - previously the ankle, and now the knee, I've got a "no need to rehab, that's only if we operate on you" responses. So more or less a lot of googling and a lot of asking on forums will be my path to full recovery

So, my dear fellow MFPians, considering that the injury is "no tears, no breaks", mild, but at the same time serious to request 10 days of immobilization, if I perform my rehab exercises pain free for 2-3 weeks, do you think that it would be okay to jump on the bike 2-3 weeks post injury?

All I've read is about going on stationary bike first until you regain stability, but that's as in "after the first 72 hours" type of "first".

And do you think I should wear a knee sleeve/support when I venture off to biking?

Please do share your experiences with both knee injuries and rehab methods of those

Thanks

piperdown44

ACL tear back in '97.
The PT had me doing light mobility moves 7 weeks post surgery, mainly for ROM, but on a stationary bike every 3 days for 8 weeks (increasing time each session). After, the Dr. cleared me to continue exercising but making sure I paid attention to how my knee felt.

I wore a custom brace for a long time when I did anything that had quick lateral moves (basketball) but then talked to several ortho Drs. and several PTs. They all said strengthening the hamstrings and smaller muscles around the knee will increase stability. Haven't needed to wear the brace for a long time now.

SonyaCele

just because there isn't any tears doesn't mean there isn't bruising and that can take a long time to heal. listen to your body so you don't keep aggravating it. i only wore a brace for a short time after my injury and surgery but now i wear tight knee sleeves with some exercises, but not all and i woudlnt wear it for biking.
also keep in mind with a knee or any joint injury, your brain sends signals to the surrounding muscles to stop working so they atrophy pretty quickly , so you will be weaker and maybe not even know it, and you need to rebuild those muscles slowly even if you feel fine. Don't just jump back into your normal routine once you feel better , ease into it slowly and take some time (maybe many months) to get back to where you were before your injury. Otherwise you will keep reinjuring yourself. this could by why you sprained your knee after your ankle healed. It took me 7 months to rebuild my quad after my original knee injury, and it took over a year to rebuild after my ACL surgery.

Yivs_87

Thanks. I'll be listening to my body that's for sure.