How to Massage a Client With a Knee Replacement

Following a knee replacement, most patients will undergo weeks or months of physical therapy. Hopefully, after this time, a patient will have regained her range of motion. Physical therapy should also help alleviate the pain. Unfortunately, many patients are still in pain even after physical therapy is completed. For some, the solution is massage therapy.

Instructions

• 1

  Identify the muscles that are in pain. Ask your client to tell you where she feels the most pain and to describe the pain to you. Many clients will feel tenderness and pain in the muscles that surround the knee joint. Tension or tightness where the quadriceps muscle connects to the hip bone, as well as lower back and neck pain, may also result from a knee replacement.

• 2

  Muscle tension and tightness can be relieved using deep tissue massage. Start with slow, direct strokes applied across the grain of the muscles that are in pain. Never go with the grain.

• 3

  Apply direct pressure to the muscles, focusing on the specific areas that are sore or in pain. Use slightly less pressure when massaging the muscles around the knee joint. The client may feel more pain during the massage, but it's important to apply some pressure to the muscles around the knee joint in order to loosen the muscles, relieve inflammation, and get blood and oxygen circulating properly.

• 4

  Instruct your client to drink lots of water after the deep tissue massage. Fluids will help flush out the toxins that were released from the muscles during the massage.