Steelergal
member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2015
- Messages
- 189
- Age
- 50
- Location
- Northern Virginia
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
Has anyone had experience or success with cold laser therapy?
A couple of things I learned from reading posts here, is that often ROM keeps increasing slowly with time for months or even years, and also that you don't have to have an MUA done unless you yourself want one because you are dissatisfied with your present ROM. Is your ROM causing you problems in daily life? That's what I'd be thinking about.Well I had my 8-week appointment today. Mostly it went well. He’s happy with the scar and the strength of my knee (I’m full weight bearing). However, he’s not happy with my ROM. He wants to see me in a month and then we’ll discuss MUA. He said it’s rare to have to do it but he’s found it to be mostly successful. The thought of it terrifies me.
I don't know anything about it but just wanted to say that whether or not to have an MUA is your decision. It's your knee, and you don't have to have one unless you want it done.My PT suggested dry needling last week to help with the scar tissue and adhesions. Has anyone had success with that?
Dry needling is primarily a treatment for pain. I know of no clinical evidence that it could make a difference with any existing scar tissue, if that is your problem.My PT has suggested i think about dry needling once i hit 12 weeks to maybe help loosen up my tight muscles.
We tend to caution people on the forum to think twice before getting an MUA because some surgeons are a little bit too quick to blame "scar tissue" when the problem with ROM is really swelling. In those cases doing an MUA just irritates tissue in the knee that is already inflamed and sets recovery back even further. We've seen cases where MUAs are being recommended in the first month or two of recovery when you're still in a healing stage.It's good to know that the MUA is not that invasive. Everything I've read on here seems to lean towards "don't do it!", which is scary. How do I know if it's really needed?