How Can Occupational Therapy Help Knee Pain?

By Shelby Allen, OTR/L

Occupational Therapy is a holistic, client-centered approach focused on treating the whole person. We focus on how we can get you back to participating in your daily activities without limitations. This can be work, school, home management responsibilities, self-care activities, and leisure activities. At the Natural Health Center of Clifton, occupational therapists will use manual therapy, stretching, exercise, progressive strengthening, and modalities to assist in your recovery and healing from your acute back injury to your chronic arthritic knee pain. 

As we age, our body goes through degenerative changes, one main area susceptible to these changes is our knees. In occupational therapy, a typical treatment for knee pain may look like this:

• Manual therapy: Massaging the muscles that surround the knee to release tension and pain.
• Modalities: Using heat to relax the muscles and reduce pain before exercise or ice for inflammatory responses.
• Stretching: Elongating the muscles surrounding the knee to increase flexibility and range of motion in the lower extremities.
• Exercises/ Progressive Strengthening Exercises: Increasing endurance and strengthening the muscles around the knee to maintain knee stability and participate in daily activities without increased pain.

JUST A FEW OF THE STRETCHES AND EXERCISES WE MIGHT DO IN THE CLINIC ARE:

• Hamstring Stretch
• IT Band Stretch
• Quad/ Psoas Stretch
• Quad Sets
• Single-Leg Raises 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON OUR SERVICES OR TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT, CONTACT NATURAL HEALTH CENTER OF CLIFTON TODAY.