Whether you’re recovering from heart surgery or trying to prevent a heart attack, working with a local phsyiotherapist can be beneficial. You will likely work with a local cardiologist to manage your heart medications, monitor your cardiovascular health ad plan any heart surgery needed. A local physiotherapist is a medical provider who treats patients with techniques such as PRP (platelet-rich plasma) treatment, manual adjustment and spinal adjustment.

A local physiotherapist can help patients with cardiovascular problems such as atrial fibrillation and obesity exercise safely with a variety of fitness and stretching techniques. Local physiotherapists can also help you set goals and manage stress, which might prevent future cardiovascular events. If you’re recovering from a heart attack or managing a condition such as coronary microvascular disease, you may be part of a cardiac rehab program. Cardiac rehab has four phases, beginning in the hospital and ending in an outpatient maintenance program.

If you’d like to learn more about how a local physiotherapist can help you manage your heart disease, palpitations or improve cardiovascular health, start by talking to your local cardiologist or family physician. Your local physiotherapist can also work with your other healthcare providers such as your local registered dietitian, chiropractor, endocrinologist or personal trainer.  ACL and MCL injuries: An ACL injury is an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee, which is located in the middle of the knee joint. The ACL is one of the biggest stability structures of the knee. An MCL sprain is an injury to the medial collateral ligament of the knee. The medial collateral ligament is a structure that runs along the medial side of the knee.  

The treatment options for cartilage problems in the knee depends on various aspects. There are patient-specific factors such as age, activity level, function and expectations. There are cartilage-defect specific factors such as the size of the cartilage lesion, where it’s located and whether or not it occurs in combination with other problems in the knee joint such as meniscus injury or osteoarthritis.   

Treatments for articular cartilage injury of the knee includes cortisone or hyaluronic acid or platelet-rich plasma injections, bracing and physiotherapy. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections have gained in popularity as treatments for injuries. PRP is plasma with many more platelets than what is usually found in blood. Blood is drawn from the patient, and then the platelets are separated from other blood cells. Their concentration is increased using a process called centrifugation, and then they’re combined with the remaining blood. Hopefully, this injection speeds up the healing process. 

Surgery for Articular Cartilage Damage

Surgical treatments include microfracturing with a special pick and De novo, which uses donor cartilage to repair the knee. Orthopedic surgeons in some parts of the world perform a process called autologous chondrocyte transplantation. This uses the patient’s own cartilage cells that are biopsied, grown in a lab and re-implanted into the knee. Total knee replacement is an option for older patient, but not for young active ones.