Knee (P)Rehab Program
The Knee is the largest joint in the body and is actually made up of two joints – the tibiofemoral joint and the patellofemoral joint.
The Patellofemoral joint is made up of the patella, aka the kneecap, and the femur. The patella is your largest sesamoid bone in your body, meaning it’s embedded within tissue (muscle and tendon). The quadriceps muscles attach on the top end of the patella via the quadriceps tendon, engulfing the patella and continuing down to anchor to the tibia via the patellar tendon. The patella acts like a pully to provide a biomechanical advantage and help alleviate stress on the muscles and tendons of the knee.
The Tibiofemoral joint is formed by the tibia and femur. Inside this joint there are other structures like menisci (medial and lateral) and ligaments (ACL and PCL). Rotation is often overlooked or ignored because the primary function of the knee is flexion and extension. However, most knee injuries like ACL tears, MCL sprains and meniscus tears happen with rotational motion, like stop-and-pivot movements.
What’s even more shocking is the high rate of knee re-injury. For example, in surgically repaired ACL tears, up to 30% will experience a second ACL tear. A big reason for this is that rehab often focuses on regaining knee extension and quad strength, while rotational training is forgotten. Using some logic, if your knee gets injured in rotation, then shouldn’t you build more motion and strength into rotation?
The Knee (P)rehab Program fills this void by training rotational capacity of the knee. We build on this by adding knee flexion and extension training and then put it all together with multi-joint movements like lunges.