Content

• Steps

A knee sprain is an injury to the knee ligament. Ligaments are tough and elastic tissue fibers that connect bones and position joints. A sprain affects many ligaments because the tissue is torn, which often causes pain, swelling and bruising. If you've been diagnosed with a knee sprain, follow these steps to speed up the recovery process.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Method P.R.I.C.E.

1. 

   Protect the knees. As soon as the knee is injured you must protect it from further damage. Once a sprain has occurred, stop moving your knee and the activity that caused the injury, otherwise it will only get worse. If possible, sit down right away and release all the pressure on your knees.
   • If you are in a public place, you can ask someone to help you to see a doctor, do not walk on your own with your injured knee until assessing its condition.
   • See a doctor as soon as possible. Because P.R.I.C.E. This is the most common treatment for a knee sprain, so your doctor will probably ask you to follow it. You must strictly follow your doctor's instructions if the sprain is severe.

2. 

   
   
   Rest your knees. For 48 hours after the injury, let your knee rest, giving your ligaments time to heal. Certainly your doctor advises you to try not to move your knee as much as possible during the next few days, so you have to use your crutches to move.
   • They may also advise you to use a brace if you are unable to hold your knee while it heals.

3. 

   
   
   Apply ice. For the first few days, use an ice pack to treat inflammation and pain. Put ice cubes or crushed ice in a sealed plastic bag, or use a bag of frozen fruit. Wrap the ice pack in a towel or cloth, then place the ice pack on your knees for 20 minutes each time. Repeat four to eight times daily.
   • Do not apply ice for more than 20 minutes at a time as this can lead to cold burns.
   • You can also use a cold compress instead of an ice pack.
   • The cold compress will take about 48 hours or until the swelling is gone.

4. 

   
   
   Knee pressure. To reduce swelling, press your knee after a sprain, by wrapping an elastic bandage or bandage around the knee. The force is just tight enough to help immobilize the knee, but don't wrap it too tightly to avoid disrupting blood circulation.
   • Remove the bandage while sleeping. You barely move your knee when you sleep, so this is the time to remove the bandage for free circulation.
   • It is likely that after 48 hours you will be allowed to remove the compression bandage, but if your knee is still swollen, your doctor will advise you to continue wearing the compress.

5. 

   Knee elevation. The days after the injury you should raise your legs most of the time. Try to keep your knee higher than your heart to reduce the blood flow to it to reduce swelling.Sit or lie flat on your back, place two or three pillows under your knees to raise it above heart height.
   • The height of the boom depends on your position at that time, if you are sitting, you need to support more pillows while lying down.
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Part 2 of 3: Complementary Treatments

1. 

   Apply hot after 72 hours. After pedicuring with P.R.I.C.E. For 48-72 hours, you can combine complementary treatment to reduce pain and swelling faster. Use a heating pad or hot compress to relieve tension and pain. Apply hot for 20 minutes each time, do it four times a day or as needed. This will help relax the muscles in the knee from the resting time of the previous three days.
   • You can also apply hot compresses to your knees with a sauna, foot baths, or hot tubs.
   • Do not apply hot compresses before the 72 hours have passed, because actually if you apply it too early it will do more harm than good. More blood circulation to the knee while it is still in the early recovery phase can cause additional bleeding and swelling.

2. 

   Take a pain reliever. While you wait to heal, taking an over-the-counter pain reliever is an effective way to cope with the pain. If your condition is too much you should take ibuprofen or acetaminophen.
   • Try some brands of ibuprofen medications like Advil and Motrin, and for acetaminophen, Panadol.
   • You can also take an anti-inflammatory drug like naproxen, under the brand name naproxen, also known as naproxen.
   • Ask your doctor to prescribe an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drug if pain and swelling persists for more than a week.

3. 

   Use an anti-inflammatory cream. If you don't want to take pain relievers, you can use a topical cream instead. A cream with an ibuprofen ingredient can be found in most drugstores. This is effective if your pain is minimal because the topical ibuprofen doesn't work as well as the oral form, and is therefore ineffective if you have a lot of pain.
   • There are also some topical creams that you can only buy with a prescription. If you want to use this cream, consult your doctor.

4. 

   Avoid drinking alcohol. While recovering, do not drink any alcoholic beverages. This is especially true in the first days after injury. Alcohol reduces the body's ability to recover from injury, in addition to causing inflammation and swelling.
   • Ask your doctor when you can resume drinking. Make sure your knees are healed enough so that the alcohol won't interfere with your recovery.
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Part 3 of 3: Knee Rehabilitation

1. 

   Do exercise. Once you have healed you should start moving your knee again, and your doctor will guide you through exercises to restore mobility to the knee. The purpose of exercise is to reduce tension, enhance health, improve range of motion and increase flexibility in the knee joint. They lead exercises aimed at balance and strength gains. You will need to practice several times a day to improve with time.
   • The type of exercise and the length of time it takes depends on the severity of the injury. You may need to exercise more if the knee is severely injured. Your doctor is the one who determines how long you need to exercise to recover.

2. 

   Practice physical therapy if needed. If the injury is really severe, you should practice with a physical therapist or do physical therapy yourself at home for a while after your knee is injured. Most cases do not need physical therapy, only apply for a few cases to restore ligaments and knees to normal state.
   • How much you exercise depends on your injury, but in general it can help relieve stiffness and pain and restore range of action in the knee.

3. 

   Slowly increase the intensity of motion. A few weeks after the injury, your doctor will advise you to get back to normal without using crutches or a cane. First of all, they will require you to check the health, flexibility and range of your knee.
   • After you have checked your knee mobility without pain, you can start working again, including playing sports and other physical activities.

4. 

   Have surgery if needed. In a few cases, surgery may be necessary. One of the main reasons for surgery is to repair the anterior cross ligament (ACL), which is the ligament that helps the knee move back and forth. Because it is a very important ligament, if you break or tear its muscle tissue, you must try to recover as much as the original condition. For athletes, ACL ligament surgery is quite common because they need to restore mobility and strength of the knee.
   • You may also need surgery if you injure more than one ligament. Without a cure, the ligament is very difficult to repair on its own.
   • Surgery is often the last resort, other methods are used first in most cases, after which surgery is considered.
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