Physical therapy exercises making bruised medial meniscus more painful

Hi

I fell over in July and hurt my knee, I found out that I have a bruised medial meniscus - my MRI report said it was torn but an orthopedic specialist then said it was just bruised after he looked at the MRI images. I am in a lot of pain when I walk (I'm using a crutch at the moment) and I also can't walk up and down stairs as usual - I have to walk up/down one step at a time as I can't put pressure on my bad knee otherwise it really hurts and feels like it will give way.

The orthopedic specialist said I needed to see a physical therapist and I finally saw a one last week. He said a bruised meniscus will take as long as a torn meniscus to heal and said I need to strengthen my quadriceps. He told me to do two exercises: sitting knee extension, raising the leg up and down (30 reps, 3 times a day), and knee to chest exercise laying down (30 reps, 3 times a day). I tried to do these but they made my knee hurt more (the last exercise especially) - my knee now feels tight, sore, gets sharp pains and is slightly itchy so I've stopped doing these exercises. I have to wait 2 weeks until I see my physical therapist again and want to do some sort of exercise to help my knee in the meantime. Can anyone recommend any gentle/light exercise that I can do that is less likely to hurt my knee? I've heard that physical therapy shouldn't give you more pain and make it more painful to walk which is why I don't want to do the exercises he told me to do - I'll obviously explain how it's making me feel when I next see him.

Thanks in advance

In a bruised or torn meniscus, one should avoid doing exercises which involve knee flexion (bending of knee). Perhaps the second exercise you mentioned, ie "knee to chest exercise" require you to bend the knee. You must stop this exercise. Please do the exercises keeping your knee straight.
My suggestion would be:

1. Straight leg raise- lie down on your back and raise your legs keeping the knee straight. hold it for 5 seconds and lower it. repeat it for at least 20 times.
2. lie on your left side and again do straight leg raise.
3. lie on your right side and repeat it.
4. Leg press- Keep a pillow beneath your knee and press the pillow. hold it for 5 sec. repeat it for as many as times you could.

Hope this helps. All the best.

Everything physiotherapy

Thank you very much for replying. I actually started doing the fourth exercise you mentioned after finding it online. The version I found doesn't mention using a pillow - it just says press your knee down to straighten your leg and flex your foot. Here's the exercise. Do you think this is ok?

You said I shouldn't bend the knee right now but when should I start bending it? I noticed that the heel slide exercise is recommended a lot (which involves bending the knee) - do you think this is a good exercise?

Thanks again for your help!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sunitPhysio

In a bruised or torn meniscus, one should avoid doing exercises which involve knee flexion (bending of knee). Perhaps the second exercise you mentioned, ie "knee to chest exercise" require you to bend the knee. You must stop this exercise. Please do the exercises keeping your knee straight.
My suggestion would be:

1. Straight leg raise- lie down on your back and raise your legs keeping the knee straight. hold it for 5 seconds and lower it. repeat it for at least 20 times.
2. lie on your left side and again do straight leg raise.
3. lie on your right side and repeat it.
4. Leg press- Keep a pillow beneath your knee and press the pillow. hold it for 5 sec. repeat it for as many as times you could.

Hope this helps. All the best.

Everything physiotherapy

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Yes, you can do knee press exercises without pillow also. We just tell to use pillow to be more objective.See, there is difference between exercise involving knee bending and an exercise to gain knee bending. We prescribe heel sliding to regain the knee movement after meniscus or cruciate ligament surgery under supervision.In your case, you can also do heel sliding exercise with some precaution. Like, do this exercise within pain-free range. I mean, while bending the knee, stop at the point where you feel the pinch or pain and then slide back to straight. And your objective would be to go on increasing the bending range of knee in comparison to the previous day.Hope this helps. Thank you.