Loss of Motion

The Knee: Arthrofibrosis and Loss of Motion

Rising from a chair. Sitting down. Walking, running and jumping. All of these movements require a full range of knee motion.

Although the knee may look like a simple joint, it’s one of the most complex. Normal knee motion is often taken for granted, since it is such a part of everyday mobility.

Following surgery, patients often develop arthrofibrosis in the knee — an abnormal growth of fibrous “scar tissue” around the joint — which leads to loss of motion. Some people have trouble extending the knee, while others have trouble flexing it. Up to 30 percent of people suffering from a stiff knee have trouble with both extension and flexion.

“Using home mechanical therapy to regain flexion loss after surgery or injury has proved to be an efficacious and cost-effective alternative to surgical management of loss of range of motion in the knee.”

The American Journal of Orthopedics®, April 2003

Treatment

The Knee: Motion Without Surgery

Loss of motion isn’t unusual in the first few weeks after surgery. But as many as 20 percent of patients suffer from activity-limiting motion loss well beyond a few weeks.

Historically, there have been two options available to treat severe motion loss — manipulation under anesthesia and surgical scar tissue removal — and both require expensive and risky hospital operating room procedures.

With mechanical therapy using ERMI devices, patients avoid these interventions all together. Working at home, a patient can stretch out even the stiffest knee with rapid, lasting results.

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Products

The Knee: In-Home Therapy Products

Both the ERMI Knee Extensionater and the ERMI Knee/Ankle Flexionater rely on the ERMI Patient-Actuated Serial Stretch or PASS protocol, coupling periods of stretch with periods of relaxation for optimal therapy.

ERMI Knee Extensionater
The ERMI Knee Extensionater is a portable, easy-to-use device that uses patented pneumatic air bladder technology to create overpressure to treat extension loss. While previous techniques involved hanging uncomfortable weights over the restricted joint, the ERMI Knee Extensionater gives patients complete control — they can add or remove load on the joint in very small increments.

ERMI Knee/Ankle Flexionater
Developed in 1991, the ERMI Knee/Ankle Flexionater allows patients to practice overpressure therapy at home to improve knee flexion. The Flexionater can generate loads from zero to several hundred foot-pounds of torque to accommodate the specific mechanical characteristics of scar tissue found in each patient. Studies have shown success rates of more than 90 percent in patients who would otherwise have returned for surgical manipulation of flexion loss.

Read this study.

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