Produced by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and featuring a contribution from Dr Karen Hambly, a chartered physiotherapist and member of the University of Kent's School of Sports and Exercise Sciences (SSES), the guidelines are intended to be used by orthopaedic physical therapists, academic instructors, clinical instructors, students and patients regarding the best current practice of orthopaedic physical therapy for meniscal and articular cartilage lesions.
More than two million people around the world suffer from these conditions so any improvements in treatment could have far reaching benefits.
The guide includes new recommendations for physical therapy management after knee cartilage surgery, including:
- early progressive knee movement
- for patients with meniscal repairs, early progressive weight bearing
- for patients after articular cartilage surgery, weight bearing is progressed in small stages gradually increasing to full weight bearing
- progressive strength and coordination training of the knee and hip muscles
- use of information from patients on how their knee feels and functions
- clinical or field tests to compare knee function before and after surgery and help to determine if that patient is ready to return to more challenging activities
For their update, Dr Hambly and colleagues from the USA and Australia focused on finding the best existing evidence from more than 7,500 published articles for diagnosis/classification, differential diagnosis, examination, and treatment options to decrease pain, improve mobility and function, and return patients to previous activities.
Knee Pain and Mobility Impairments: Meniscal and Articular Cartilage Lesions Revision 2018 is published in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy (JOSPT).
###
https://www.jospt.org/doi/abs/10.2519/jospt.2018.0301?code=jospt-site
For further information or interview requests contact Sandy Fleming at the University of Kent Press Office.
Tel: 01227 823581
Email: [email protected]
News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news
University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent
Note to editors
Established in 1965, the University of Kent – the UK's European university – now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome.
It has been ranked 22nd in the Guardian University Guide 2018 and 25th in the Complete University Guide 2018, and in June 2017 was awarded a gold rating, the highest, in the UK Government's Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).
In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, it is in the top 10% of the world's leading universities for international outlook and 66th in its table of the most international universities in the world. The THE also ranked the University as 20th in its 'Table of Tables' 2016.
Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality.
In the National Student Survey 2016, Kent achieved the fourth highest score for overall student satisfaction, out of all publicly funded, multi-faculty universities.
Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium (http://www.kent.ac.uk/about/partnerships/eastern-arc.html).
The University is worth £0.7 billion to the economy of the south east and supports more than 7,800 jobs in the region. Student off-campus spend contributes £293.3m and 2,532 full-time-equivalent jobs to those totals.
Media Contact
Sandy Fleming
[email protected]
44-012-278-23581
@UniKent
http://www.kent.ac.uk
http://dx.doi.org/10.2519/jospt.2018.0301
