First Assessment
Free
45 minutes, at home
- Full clinical examination at the patient's home
- The likely cause explained in plain language
- A realistic recovery plan and what it will cost
- No obligation to book any further sessions
Knees carry a lot of the strain of daily life in the older parts of Pune. Homes without lifts, floor seating for meals or puja, an Indian-style toilet, and long hours standing behind a counter all ask the knee either to bend deeply or to hold your weight for a long time. When a knee starts to ache, swell or feel unreliable, those everyday positions are usually the first to go.
Our guide to knee pain physiotherapy covers the common causes, from arthritis to ligament strain. This page is about treating the knee in a Swargate home.
Why the stairs hurt first
Coming down is usually harder than going up. Each step down asks the thigh muscle to control the knee as it bends under your full weight, and a painful or weak knee struggles with exactly that. Steep, narrow wooden steps, like those in many wadas, make it harder still: there is less room for the foot, and the rail may be on the wrong side. Many people quietly start taking stairs one at a time, or stop going out at all.
At the first visit the physiotherapist watches you on your own staircase, works out which step height you can manage, and teaches a safer pattern for now: the stronger leg leads going up, the sore one leads coming down, with a hand on the rail. That is a starting point, not a permanent rule. As strength returns, the plan moves you back towards a normal stair pattern.
What the home programme involves
- Strength. Exercises for the thigh and hip muscles that begin on a chair or the bed and move to the bottom step of your own stairs as they get easier.
- Movement. Gentle bending and straightening, with hands-on work if the knee has stiffened.
- Everyday positions. Ways to get down to and up from the floor, or a low stool to bridge the gap while the knee settles. If squatting on an Indian-style toilet is painful, a commode chair or raised seat can help for a while.
- Load at work. For shopkeepers who stand all day: a stool to perch on, short sitting breaks and supportive footwear.
If the knee pain follows a replacement or other operation, the staged plan on post-surgery rehabilitation in Swargate applies. For an older parent whose knees are part of a wider problem with balance and falls, see elderly physiotherapy in Swargate.
Getting your walks back
Walking is one of the most useful things for a painful knee, as long as the dose is right. Saras Baug, within a kilometre of Swargate bus station, has a jogging track that is flat compared with the climb up Parvati hill. A sensible order is level walking first, then gentle slopes, and only then the hill steps again. The physiotherapist will suggest a starting distance and how to add to it, judged by how the knee feels the next morning rather than during the walk.
When the knee needs a doctor first
A knee that turns hot, red and very swollen without an injury, especially with a fever, needs prompt medical attention. So does a knee that locks and won't straighten, or one that gave way with a pop and filled with swelling within hours.
Readers in Mukund Nagar have a page of their own, and our article on why knee pain increases on stairs explains the mechanics in more detail. When you are ready, request a home visit; the Swargate home physiotherapy page explains how visits work.