{"id":170,"date":"2016-04-05T09:18:30","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T13:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/?p=170"},"modified":"2016-04-05T09:21:46","modified_gmt":"2016-04-05T13:21:46","slug":"using-a-stationary-bicycle-to-regain-knee-flexion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/using-a-stationary-bicycle-to-regain-knee-flexion\/","title":{"rendered":"Using a Stationary Bicycle to Regain Knee Flexion"},"content":{"rendered":"

by James D. Hundley, MD<\/p>\n

I have often recommended stationary bicycling as a conditioning exercise for people who had difficulty walking, had poor balance, etc.\u00a0 It can be boring but watching a sporting event or exciting TV show makes it less so.<\/p>\n

On the positive side, it\u2019s convenient, effective, and safe.\u00a0 You can do it in your own home whenever time permits, day or night, and you don\u2019t have to worry about being run over by a careless driver.<\/p>\n

When I had total knee replacement I was determined to practice what I\u2019d been preaching.\u00a0 The sooner you regain your range of motion, the better it will be and, on a cumulative basis, you\u2019ll experience less pain.\u00a0 My own surgery was complicated by a femoral DVT that required clot removal and aggressive anticoagulation, the latter resulting in my knee filling with blood making it harder to flex.\u00a0 I had to get my knee going, so I started using my stationary bike.<\/p>\n

At first I couldn\u2019t make a complete revolution, even with the seat fully elevated.\u00a0 I rocked the pedals back and forth to flex the knee as much as I could tolerate and held it at the forward and backward endpoints for a few seconds, back and forth, back and forth.\u00a0 Ultimately I was able to make a full revolution, an exciting event for me.<\/p>\n

Once I was able to make a complete revolution with the seat elevated, I would ride slowly for five minutes or so until I felt that the knee was \u201cwarmed up\u201d.\u00a0 Then I would lower the seat and push some more.\u00a0 Over a week or so I was able to progressively lower the seat to its lowest position giving me as much flexion as the bicycle would allow.<\/p>\n

This is not to say that I didn\u2019t also have physical therapy and do other exercises, but I truly believe that the bicycle helped me regain my knee range of motion.\u00a0 I now have 135 degrees of flexion and extension to neutral, and credit much of that to using the bike.<\/p>\n

My wife recently had knee surgery and has been using a similar technique.\u00a0 In her case, however, she is also using the Ortho Pedal, an \u201cadd-on\u201d that effectively shortens the crank arm attached to the sprocket.\u00a0 With this she has made some full revolutions and we\u2019ll gradually adjust the Ortho Pedal to lengthen the crank arm to increase her knee flexion.<\/p>\n

Click here\u00a0to see the Ortho Pedal<\/a>.\u00a0 It was initially designed for those with fixed limitation of knee flexion that took them away from bicycling.\u00a0 With the Ortho Pedal they could resume something that they loved.\u00a0 I can see how it would work well for that but have also seen it useful in regaining knee range of motion in the acute postoperative stage.<\/p>\n

Dr. Hundley is a retired orthopaedic surgeon and the president of OrthopaedicLIST.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by James D. Hundley, MD I have often recommended stationary bicycling as a conditioning exercise for people who had difficulty walking, had poor balance, etc.\u00a0 It can be boring but watching a sporting event or exciting TV show makes it less so. On the positive side, it\u2019s convenient, effective, and safe.\u00a0 You can do it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nUsing a Stationary Bicycle to Regain Knee Flexion - OrthopaedicLIST.com Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/using-a-stationary-bicycle-to-regain-knee-flexion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Using a Stationary Bicycle to Regain Knee Flexion - OrthopaedicLIST.com Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by James D. 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