Reflective Essay on Knee Assessment Course and Its Impact on Practice

This reflective essay summarizes a knee assessment course focused on the influence of hip and pelvis mechanics on knee injuries. The author details the course's content, including the importance of understanding the relationship between knee and hip mechanics for accurate diagnosis and treatment. The essay highlights the key learnings, such as the different factors contributing to knee pain, objective tests for measuring knee injury, and the important questions to ask during a subjective examination. The author emphasizes the practical application of this knowledge in future practice, including how to conduct thorough examinations, provide accurate diagnoses, and develop effective treatment plans. The course provided insights into the different factors that bring about knee pain or injury namely overuse of the knees, adopting a bad posture when walking, running or even sitting, any external or internal infection that may occur in and around the knee area and stretching the muscles of the knee in an improper manner. The author explains the importance of asking the right questions to the patient in order to arrive at a proper diagnosis of his ailment. The author also gained knowledge about different physical injuries that need to be looked out for such as swelling and bruises among others when subjectively examining a patient, in order to determine the extent of the injury that has taken place. The author concludes by reflecting on how the course has affirmed and influenced their future practice, emphasizing the ability to assess knee injuries efficiently, provide conclusive diagnoses, and offer appropriate treatments.

Running Head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Reflective Essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1REFLECTIVE ESSAY
I attended a knee assessment course that focused on understanding how faulty hip and
pelvis mechanics are capable of influencing the knee (Willy & Davis, 2013). The course paid
special attention to understanding the unique relationship between knee and hip mechanics,
which is imperative to know if patients who are suffering from knee pain or injury are to be
examined and treated correctly (Egsgard etal., 2015).
What I got know by attending this course is how a faulty pelvis and a faulty hip can
direly influence the diagnosis and prognosis of knee conditions. I learnt about the many
different ways by which trunk, hip and pelvis control can influence the bio mechanics of the
knee Changes in the pelvic posture and in the posture of the trunk can, for instance, result in
predictable and large changes in hip as well as thigh muscle activation (Powers, 2010).
While studying this course I came to understand all the different factors that have an
important role to play in bringing about knee pain or injury namely overuse of the knees,
adopting a bad posture when walking, running or even sitting, any external or internal
infection that may occur in and around the knee area and stretching the muscles of the knee in
an improper manner (Paquette etal.,2014). While attending this highly informative and
enlightening course on knee assessment, I also got to learn about more than eight different
objective tests that can be successfully used to measure levels of knee pain or injury that may
occur to the knee. These include palpation of the joint lines in both the lateral as well as
medical sides, examination of the movement of the patella, looking for symptoms of baker’s
cyst in the posterior joints, palpating the muscle strings in the hamstrings and gastrocnemius,
identifying knee injuries by getting the patient to flex and relax the muscles in the knee area
and then locating the damage done using an available range, detecting muscle strength in the
knees by requesting the patient to raise his legs straight up while lying down, listening for
audible clicks or cracks, noting the ability of the patient to bear weight in the injured areas

2REFLECTIVE ESSAY
during mobilization and noting the amount of swelling that is present in the knee while
making the patient straight, walk as well as lie down. Additionally, I got to learn about the
nine important questions that ought to be asked when examining a patient suffering from
knee pain, in a subjective manner (Van Meer etal., 2013). I know now that I need to ask
questions like whether the patient suffering from knee injury suffers any pain when he is
coughing or sneezing, whether the knee swells up upon injury or not and if so then how
much, whether the knees lock during pain or injury, whether the knees are bruised, whether
or not the knees giving way, a bit too easily, if the patient hears a popping sound when
walking, lying down or even by simply touching his knee, whether the patient suffer from
ankle pain, whether the patient suffer from hip pain, whether the patient suffers from any
back pain or leg pain once the injury takes place, what the age of the patient is and the type of
shoes that the patient was wearing at the time of injury.
Everything that I have learnt as a part of this course on knee assessment will I believe
be very useful for me when I do start practicing professionally. I have learnt how to
successfully examine patients suffering from knee injury in both an objective and a subjective
manner. I know all the important questions that I need to ask a patient with knee pain when
examining him subjectively, so as to arrive at a proper diagnosis of his ailment. I have gotten
to learn about the different physical injuries that I need to be on the lookout for such as
swelling and bruises among others when subjectively examining a patient, in order to
determine the extent of the injury that has taken place. Knowing about the different objective
measurements that need to be undertaken to assess knee pain or injury in a patient and
understanding how the pelvis and hip abnormalities have a significant influence on knee pain
assessment and treatment will stand to be very handy indeed when I start practicing. I will be
able to assess the knee injury in a smooth and efficient manner, provide the patient with a

3REFLECTIVE ESSAY
conclusive and accurate diagnosis as well as the treatment that he has to undergo in order to
recover successfully.

4REFLECTIVE ESSAY
References
Egsgaard, L. L., Eskehave, T. N., Bay-Jensen, A. C., Hoeck, H. C., & Arendt-Nielsen, L.
(2015). Identifying specific profiles in patients with different degrees of painful knee
osteoarthritis based on serological biochemical and mechanistic pain biomarkers: a
diagnostic approach based on cluster analysis. Pain, 156(1), 96-107.
Helito, C. P., Helito, P. V. P., Costa, H. P., Bordalo-Rodrigues, M., Pecora, J. R., Camanho,
G. L., & Demange, M. K. (2014). MRI evaluation of the anterolateral ligament of the
knee: assessment in routine 1.5-T scans. Skeletal radiology, 43(10), 1421-1427.
Paquette, M. R., Zhang, S., Milner, C. E., & Klipple, G. (2014). Does increasing step width
alter knee biomechanics in medial compartment knee osteoarthritis patients during
stair descent?. The Knee, 21(3), 676-682.
Powers, C. M. (2010). The influence of abnormal hip mechanics on knee injury: a
biomechanical perspective. journal of orthopaedic & sports physical therapy, 40(2),
42-51
Van Meer, B. L., Meuffels, D. E., Vissers, M. M., Bierma-Zeinstra, S. M., Verhaar, J. A.,
Terwee, C. B., & Reijman, M. (2013). Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score
or International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form: which
questionnaire is most useful to monitor patients with an anterior cruciate ligament
rupture in the short term?. Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related
Surgery, 29(4), 701-715.
Willy, R. W., & Davis, I. S. (2013). Varied response to mirror gait retraining of gluteus
medius control, hip kinematics, pain, and function in 2 female runners with

5REFLECTIVE ESSAY
patellofemoral pain. journal of orthopaedic & sports physical therapy, 43(12), 864-
874.