Heel Slides
Encourages early, gentle knee motion.
What it helps
Coaxes gentle bending back into the knee — restoring the motion you need for stairs, sitting, and getting in and out of a car.
How to do it
- Lie on your back with your legs straight.
- Slowly slide your heel toward you, bending the knee.
- Slide it back down.
Tips
- Only go as far as is comfortable.
Commonly done as 2-3 sets of 10, a few times a day.
Where this appears in recovery
Heel Slides is part of 77 recovery programs, most often at the immediate recovery (weeks 0–2), immediate recovery (weeks 0–1) and wound care and early motion (weeks 0–4) stages, among others. Each program shows how it fits alongside the other movements:
- ACL Revision Reconstruction exercise guide
- Spinal Cord Stimulator Implant exercise guide
- Knee Arthroscopy (Diagnostic / Debridement) exercise guide
- Kyphoplasty exercise guide
- Knee Arthroscopy with Partial Meniscectomy exercise guide
- Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty (One Component) exercise guide
- Fasciotomy (Compartment Syndrome) exercise guide
- Microfracture (Knee Cartilage) exercise guide
- Microfracture (Knee Cartilage) exercise guide
- Sacroplasty exercise guide
- Lateral Lumbar Interbody Fusion (LLIF / XLIF / OLIF) exercise guide
- Revision Lumbar Fusion exercise guide
- …and 65 more
All exercise guides · Condition guides · Recovery education
These are general exercise guides, not a personal prescription. The repetitions and frequency shown are what's commonly used — your own surgeon or therapist may advise something different, and their guidance comes first.