prehab

Prehab exercises that will build your foundation

ACL surgery can be a tough and long road. To make that road smoother and easier should be a no-brainer. Prehab (Prehabilitation) exercises will get you started in building those important foundations.

There are 3 main points to Prehab:

• Reduce Swelling
• Maintain Range Of Motion (ROM)
• Avoid Muscle Atrophy (Wasting away of muscles due to immobilisation)

When you sustain an ACL injury you will lose strength, ROM, stability and mobility. It is important to regain these key aspects as it has been proven to decrease the rehabilitation time compared to a person who has not gone through the Prehab exercises.

These exercises will slow down the muscle atrophy and allow your body to become tuned in to the exercises you will need to do after surgery. The muscle memory will allow you to pick up these exercises quickly post surgery.

These exercises for ACL prehab are :

• Foam Roller
• Passive Knee Extension
• Heel Slides
• Calf Raises
• Quad sets (VMO holds)
• Bridging
• Leg Raise
• Double Leg Squat

All these exercises will get you ready for surgery by targeting those 4 key factors of Strength, ROM, Stability and Mobility.

These are not every exercise that could be done pre surgery, but they are a basic guideline which will hit all key points in getting you ready for surgery. Your doctor or Physiotherapist can help you with what limit you should push towards to get you ready for surgery, or even post surgery.

Remember:

You should start slowly and gradually increase the intensity of the exercises. Do not push yourself to the point that you feel pain.

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There is more to come, so stay tuned.