Knee flossing

This weeks blog post is going to look at using a flossing band on the knee. Previous we have done blog posts that have talked about flossing in general, flossing of the foot/ankle and most recently flossing of the shin. Today we move up the chain to the knee joint.

The knee joint is comprised of the femur, thigh bone, tibia, shin bone and the fibula, a small shin bone. The knee joint is held together by a bunch of ligaments. Ligaments are strong pieces of gristle and hold us together. Ligaments attach direct from a bone to another bone. They are similar to strong, tight pieces of rope that hold to bones together. There is not any contractile tissue/muscle between the ends of the ligament. Just a tight, strong rope. The big ligaments of the knee are the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), medial collateral ligament (MCL) and lateral collateral ligament (LCL). The ACL, PCL and MCL are within the joint capsule. Image source

An injury to any of these ligaments will cause swelling to occur in the knee joint.

The LCL is not directly attached to the knee joint, so an isolated injury to this ligament will not cause swelling in the knee. It will still cause an injury to the knee and the person will have pain and difficulty walking but minimal swelling.

In addition, the cartilage in the knee joint, the meniscus, if there is an injury to this structure will also cause swelling in the knee.

As we can see from the above there are many reasons why there can be swelling in the knee joint. Using a flossing band can help to mobilize the fluid out of the knee joint and get the muscles working around the knee joint more effectively.

Here is a video of a knee joint getting wrapped.

Once the knee is wrapped we get the client doing some exercises to help the tissues to slide/glide and help to get the fluid moving out of the knee joint. The first exercise that can be done is getting the client lying down and performing a heel slide with the knee wrapped. The client will perfrom the heel slide for 1-2 minutes. The client should work through the maximal ROM they can, sometimes the physiotherapist or rehabiliation assistant can help get a little more range of motion, gently. After the heel slides, getting the client up and doing some squats for 60-90 seconds to get some weight bearing movement of the joint and its tissues. Again the client is trying to move through the largest range of motion possible with the flossing band wrapped around their knee. The client will usually find that the band feels like it is restricting their movement. The flossing band is removed and then the client is retested in the movements previously tested. Looking for increased ease of movement, decreased pain and/or swelling. The flossing process can then be repeated a 2-3 times in a treatment session.

Here is a video of doing some exercises with the wrap on the client's right knee.

Have you sprained/hurt your knee recently? Would you like to try flossing as part of a plan to get you back moving pain-free? Please call New Leaf Physiotherapy for your at home physiotherapy needs. 250-826-7300 to talk with Lyndsey, a certified Rehabilitation Assistant, to help you book your assessment.

New Leaf Physiotherapy is a mobile physiotherapy service that sees clients in West Kelowna, Kelowna and Lake Country.