Here's are some exercises we use in physical therapy for strengthening the legs after a patient has had a complex knee surgery.

💥Injury Background:
These are some of the nastiest knee injuries we see in PT. The bottom half of the knee joint (tibia) breaks/shatters due to blunt force trauma common in high speed falls (skiing/snowboarding) and car accidents.

In this case the patient was a pedestrian who was struck by a speeding car.

The surgeon had to put the bottom-half of the knee back together using pins and plates. The pins and plates hold the knee in place while the bone heals. It usually takes 6-8 weeks for the bones to heal and for the structure of the knee to be stable enough to start putting weight through.

The surgeon will order x-rays to monitor how the bones are healing every few months to make sure alignment of the bones stay true. From these x-rays they decide on how much weight the patient can bear through the leg.

💥Physical Therapy Protocol:
Recovery is long and painful. It usually takes up to a year for a patient to return to their prior level of activity.

In this case, we have spent 6 months pushing his knee ROM. The surgeon cleared him to start putting some weight on the leg at the 10-week mark after surgery, once the x-rays showed good alignment in the healed bone. We have slowly been pushing his weight bearing tolerance over the past 3 months.

Strengthening started immediately in the non-weight bearing stage. He performed a lot of exercises on his stomach and on his back.

We are now working on full weight bearing exercises to get the muscles to stabilize the knee. We are also now working on functional movements like squatting, stepping up and down on stairs, etc🚶🏻‍♂️.

💥Exercises:
1️⃣Bridge walk outs - Great exercise for the gluteals and hamstrings. You can see how he struggles to maintain the bridge all the way through the walkout.
2️⃣TRX Squats - Leaning back on the TRX straps helps him limit the stress on his, allowing him to use his glutes more. My cue to him was to reach back with his but like he’s going to sit in the chair.
3️⃣Wall Marching - Great way to load the leg in single leg stance. His cues are to push the wall back and to drive with his legs. Great way to activate the quads and gluteals.

Checkout our channel for more breakdowns of injuries and their rehab.

Also checkout our website for great rehab content:
https://motionptr.com