What happens in Knee osteoarthritis:

Knee osteoarthritis is wear & tear of cartilage lining on the ends of the bones of the knee joint, either of the femur or tibia or undersurface of the patella in the knee joint.

Most of the time it happens due to previous injury or physical activity over a long period.

Over time the space between the knees joint becomes narrower and there is more compression in the joint, and you start to get bone spurs and the grinding of the bone on bone.

Some causes of Knee osteoarthritis are

• obesity,
• knee joint hypermobility or instability,
• malpositioning of the joint,
• previous injury to the knee joint (e.g. fracture around your knee),
• a congenital defect,
• metabolic cause (e.g. rickets).

Knee osteoarthritis is a progressive disease that may lead to disability.

Common clinical symptoms of include:

• knee pain which appears gradually and worse with activity.
• knee stiffness and swelling (particularly early morning stiffness).
• pain after prolonged sitting or resting.
• Also, pain on joint line palpation.

Physiotherapy Treatment of Knee osteoarthritis:

• Treatment of knee arthritis begins with the conservative method and only after the conservative method fails we progress to the surgical method.
• Physiotherapy for knee arthritis includes
  • patient education,
  • exercise therapy,
  • electrotherapy,
  • activity modification,
  • weight loss, &
  • Also, knee bracing.
  • The physiotherapy program has the best result and gets you the benefits but these benefits are lost after 6 months if the exercises are stopped.
• Physiotherapy intervention in knee arthritis can reduce knee pain and inflammation, normalize knee joint ROM, strengthen lower limb muscle, improve cardiovascular capacity, improve proprioception, agility, and balance, and improve functions.
• In addition, Maintain your weight and keep your BMI below 25, to achieve weight control in your diet and eat fewer carbohydrates and do low-impact aerobic exercise.
• Knee bracing in knee arthritis can be used, off-loading type brace will be used if you have a valgus or varus deformity.
• Also, Kinesio taping is used by our physiotherapist, which helps your knee joint to be stabilized and also reduces pain.
• 10 exercises for knee arthritis.
  • Long sitting calf stretch (it will help you to regain knee extension),
  • Towel-assisted knee mobility (Flexion & extension),
  • Short arc quadriceps strengthening exercise,
  • Bridging exercise (it is the combination of trunk and leg strengthening),
  • Prone (on stomach) knee bends,
  • Sitting hamstring stretch,
  • In addition, Medial Quadriceps mini Lunges,
  • Wall squatting or half squatting,
  • Double heel raise (for calf strengthening),
  • Also, leg raise (lying).
• There are some therapeutic electric modalities that a physiotherapist used to alleviate your pain and other symptoms of knee arthritis such as
  • Combo therapy,
  • Also, Paraffin Wax Bath (PWB), etc.