Knee pain is one of the most common orthopedic complaints. This can affect your activities of daily living, and it can affect young and old, and both men and women. Knee pain can come on suddenly from an acute injury or gradually appear over time. Some causes of knee pain are:
• Injury-sports injury, fall, or car accident
• Overuse injuries-making the same movements repeatedly because of sports or occupation activities.
• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Osteoporosis
An orthopedic provider can help create a comprehensive treatment plan to relieve symptoms. The type of treatments that are used to improve knee pain symptoms are the following:
1. Rest: Knee sprains or strain, bursitis or tendonitis respond well to rest. Avoiding the activity that causes the pain in the first place is important.
2. Ice/Heat Therapy: Cooling works to decrease swelling and inflammation which helps relieve the pain. Heat relaxed your muscles, which can help relieve the pain.
3. Over-the-Counter Medications: Tylenol, or ibuprofen are over-the-counter
medication that can help relieve the pain symptoms while your kneel heals.
4. Physical Therapy/Home Exercise Program: Exercises can help strengthen the knee, improve flexibility, restore function , and range of motion.
5. Injections:
a. Cortisone-Injected into the knee, cortisone injections can help provide
relief from knee pain. May provide relief for several months after injection.
b. Viscosupplementation - Commonly used to treat symptoms of knee
osteoarthritis. With this injection your doctor injection a gel-like fluid called hyaluronic acid into the knee. Hyaluronic acid occurs naturally in the joint fluid, this cushions and protects joints from impact and helps allow bones to move smoothly. People with osteoarthritis have lower levels of this compound in the affected joint, by adding hyaluronic acid to the joint, this should increase the joint cushioning, improve movement, and reduce pain.
c. PRP(Platelet-rich Plasma) injection- Procedure where growth factors are
taken from the blood of the patient to be used to rebuild the damaged areas of the knee. It is administered via injection into the knee joint to repair damaged tissue and enhance cell growth to help begin the healing process.
6. Knee arthroscopy surgery: Minimally invasive procedure used to diagnose and treat knee conditions or injuries. During the procedure, your surgeon will make a very small incision, and insert a tiny camera (arthroscope), into your knee.The intent is to improve pain and function.
7. Knee replacement surgery: Recommended only if conservative treatments no longer relieve symptoms. If you have knee pain that is affecting your quality of life, a total knee replacement may be your best option.
Don’t let knee pain keep you from living your best life. Whether you have a sports injury or osteoarthritis, our team of orthopedic providers have the expertise to find the cause of your knee pain, and provide treatment to relieve symptoms, and return you to an active lifestyle.
