Can’t Bend Knee Past 90 Degrees Without Pain? Tips to Increase Motion After Total Knee Replacement

Reasons You Can't Bend Your Knee Past 90 Degrees Without Pain

There are several reasons why you might have trouble bending your knee past 90 degrees without pain.

The most common reason for being unable to bend your knee past 90 degrees is following a surgery such as a total knee replacement.

Not that if you can't bend your knee past 90 degrees without pain and that you haven't had a surgery, it would be a good idea to get it checked out by a healthcare professional.  Being unable to bend your knee past 90 degrees could indicate a serious injury such as an ACL tear or meniscus tear.

Can't Bend Knee Past 90 Degrees After Knee Replacement

One of the most common causes for limited knee bending following a knee replacement surgery swelling. Other factors include stiffness in the joint capsule, pain inhibition, and muscle tightness.

Controlling Swelling After Total Knee Replacement Surgery

Swelling can severely limit your knee’s ability to bend. Controlling swelling is crucial for improving your knee mobility following a  knee replacement.

You can manage swelling by icing, compressing, and elevating your leg at least 3 times daily for 20 minutes each during the first month after surgery.

Products like the ActiveWrap Knee Ice Compression Wrap can provide both cold and compression therapy at the same time.

Additionally wearing thigh high compression socks can also be helpful.

Finally, regular movement helps to decrease swelling as well.  We'll go over specific exercises to help improve knee bending in the following sections.

Managing Pain and Stiffness After Knee Surgery

To manage pain and stiffness, it's essential to stay on top of your pain management plan.

This might include medications at least for a short while after surgery.  In general, at More 4 Life, we help people relieve pain without relying on pain medication.

However, if you're going to go to the extent of having your knee replaced, it's OK (and advisable), to take pain medication as needed during the first few weeks to allow you to do your exercises.

Starting exercises early after surgery will allow you to get your knee to bend past 90 degrees without pain more quickly.

Heel Slide: Pro Tips to Improve Knee Bending

Heel slides are part of almost every knee surgery rehab protocol.  The goal of heel slide is to help you bend your knee farther using a towel or stretching strap.

Here are a few pro tips to make heel slides work better for you though.

Sit up and recline your back against something.

Wrap the towel or strap around your ankle as show and keep the pull angle low in order to create a greater bending force on the knee rather than a compression force.

Using Gravity to Improve Knee Bending To 90 Degrees

You can use gravity to improve your knee bending by letting your leg hang off the edge of a bed or table.

This allows gravity to gently pull your knee into a more bent position, helping to increase your range of motion over time.

Reducing Pain Inhibition While Bending Knee

If your quadriceps muscles guard too much and won't allow your leg to bend fully, using a resistance band, can help reduce pain inhibition.

Loop the band around your foot and gently bend your knee against the resistance of the band.

This can give you a sense of security so that you don't feel like gravity is forcing your knee to bend more than you want it to.

Using Massage Tools to Relax Muscles and Improve Knee Bending

Massage tools can help relax tight muscles around your knee, making it easier to bend.

Muscle Massage Stick

You can use a Muscle Massage Stick, to massage your quadriceps muscles.

Getting your quadriceps muscles to relax can help you bend your knee to 90 degrees and beyond.

Gua Sha Tools

Gua Sha has is an ancient form of soft tissue massage using tools to scrape the skin.  While traditionally done to the point of bruising, using gua sha tools to gently massage the muscles and ligaments around your knee can help improve your knee bending.

You can even use them around or over your surgical incision once it has closed fully.

Additionally, massage guns can help get your thigh muscles to relax.

Save 10% on the Bob and Brad X6 Pro Massage Gun using the discount code JAH3HED8

Using a Strap to Bend Knee Past 90 Degrees Without Pain

If you’re sitting and want to improve your knee bending, a stretching strap can be very effective.

Loop the strap around your foot and then use the legs of a chair like a pulley to get your knee to bend.

Kick out against the resistance of the strap.  Hold for 5-10 seconds.  Then gently pull on the strap to bend your knee a little farther.

Repeat this technique 3-5 times until you can't get your knee to bend any farther.

Prone Position Knee Bending Tips

Another way to improve knee bending is to use the prone position. Lie on your stomach with your legs straight.

Then, bend your knee, bringing your heel towards your buttocks.

Only go as far as you can without allowing your pelvis to move or back to arch.

This exercise helps strengthen your hamstrings and stretch your rectus femoris, on of your quadriceps muscles.

Knee Strengthening Exercises

Finally, once you've gotten your knee to bend past 90 degrees without pain, you need to strengthen your muscles in this new range of motions.

Chair squats or bodyweight squats are great ways to strengthen your legs.