The goal of knee replacement surgery is to help a person regain more physical independence and to help decrease pain in the knee region. With this newfound ability in their artificial knee, many patients want to get back to certain activities that had become too painful on their arthritic knee. Oftentimes the most common activity they ask about during their pre-op consultation is whether or not they’ll be able to return to a certain sport after their operation.
We can’t say you absolutely will or won’t be able to take part in some form of your favorite sport after your recovery from knee replacement, but there are some things you’ll want to do before and after surgery to give yourself the best chance at physically being capable of returning to sport. We explore those tips in today’s blog.
Playing Sports After Knee Replacement
If you want to return to the pickleball court or play pickup basketball again after knee replacement surgery, keep these tips in mind.
- Prehab – Start doing some physical therapy exercises before your surgery date. This will help to ensure that muscles, ligaments and other soft tissues that support the knee joint are as healthy as possible prior to your operation. It will also help you develop a positive relationship with physical therapy, which can make it easier to follow through with a post-op rehab plan when you’re dealing with more discomfort than normal.
- Eat Healthy and Maintain A Healthy Weight – Eating healthy before and after your operation will help you maintain an optimal weight, which will help keep excess pressure off your knee as it heals. It will be harder on your knee to participate in the physical demands of sporting activities if it’s dealing with the added stress of being overweight, so strive to improve your diet, especially when your mobility is limited at the beginning stages of your rehab, as it will be harder for you to burn calories.
- Follow Your Post-Op Instructions Carefully – In order to gain the most strength and flexibility in your new knee, you need to follow your doctor’s post-op instructions carefully. This involves attending all your physical therapy sessions and doing your at-home exercises, and following their activity avoidance guidelines. Don’t return to work or resume certain exercises until you are given the green light from your surgeon.
- Ease Back Into It – Ease back into activity so that your knee and your endurance level can prepare for the upcoming activity. Consider doing some exercises on the elliptical or in the swimming pool to build up your endurance and help your body get ready for full body movement. Slowly build up your distance and intensity until you are close to full physical fitness.
- Know Your Limits – Finally, talk to your doctor about your goals and your physical limitations after your knee operation. You may feel better than you did prior to the operation, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should be playing full court pickup basketball. Talk with your surgeon about which types of activities you can work towards playing and which activities should be avoided on your new knee so that you don’t suffer a setback. You may even discover a passion for a new sport in the process!
If you keep these tips in mind and are smart about your rehab, we’re confident that you’ll be able to return to sporting activities in some fashion. For more information, or to learn more about regaining physical independence after a knee replacement procedure, reach out to Dr. Botero’s office today.
