Knee injuries severe enough to require surgery also require a period of post-surgery rehabilitation. During this time the work you do, both with a physical therapist and on your own at home, ensures you will regain normal range of knee motion and a correct walking gait, as well as regain balance and coordination through muscle strengthening exercises. As you progress through varying types and intensities of exercise on your way to total healing, aerobic exercise becomes an important part of the rehabilitative process.
Identification
Aerobics form the base of more advanced knee rehabilitation exercises, so the time frame for adding aerobics to your rehabilitation program depends on how you progress through beginning and intermediate exercise levels. When the timing is right, your doctor or physical therapist will prescribe a set of low-impact aerobic exercises, or aerobics that ensure at least one foot is always on the floor and able to support your body weight.
Benefits
In addition to the overall positive effects aerobics have on your health, low impact aerobics provide three specific benefits to knee surgery rehabilitation. These include muscle toning, help in weight reduction and as a natural painkiller. The time you spend off your feet during recovery causes general weakening of your muscles. Because the muscles around your knee joint are important for both support and protection, strengthening knee muscles is crucial to your recovery. The more body weight you carry, the more stress you place on knee joints. According to BigKneePain.com, you can calculate the amount of stress your knees are under as you walk by multiplying your body weight by three. If you are overweight, losing the excess can greatly reduce this stress load. Finally, aerobics stimulate your brain to release natural painkillers called endorphins. While you may initially feel some pain, the more you exercise, the better you will feel.
Types
Examples of low-impact aerobics appropriate for recovery from knee surgery include step aerobics, stationary biking and walking. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommends starting with a step no more than 6 inches high, increasing its height as muscle strength increases. Using your injured knee as the leading leg, start with 10 repetitions each of both forward and lateral steps. Get started with about 10 minutes a day of stationary biking using the lightest resistance level. Adjust the seat height on the bike high enough to ensure you fully extend your leg during each revolution. Each day, add one minute to your time and increase resistance as you can, until you are biking a total of 20 minutes each day using heavy resistance. Once you regain enough knee muscle strength to support the stress that walking places on your knees, adding a walking program can also be beneficial.
Considerations
Wearing the proper shoes is an important consideration when performing low-impact aerobics. Make sure the shoes you wear provide adequate support, especially when walking, to avoid overpronation, or excessive inward rolling of your foot as you walk. You are more prone to this way of walking, according to BigKneePain.com, if you have low arches or if your big toe is shorter than the second toe. Check your shoes for signs of excessive wear on the inner sides of your heels to see if you have this problem.
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