FAQ’s about Knee Pain

Knee pain can come from a multitude of causes but far and away the most common cause is joint disfunction and the arthritic changes associated with it. In both conditions inflammation in the joint space and the muscle and ligament attachments are generally what causes the pain.

If you are having pain and have already tried an antinflammatory diet it’s time to get some help. Knee pain is a sign of inflammation in the joint and chronic inflammation causes degenerative changes which in some cases are irreversible. In most cases the earlier we start to correct the problem the better your prognosis.

In our office we perform a thorough orthopedic and neurological exam of your knees, feet, pelvis and low back along with taking any necessary x-rays to evaluate the structures we suspect to be involved. Our goal is always to find the root cause of your pain and not just treat the inflammation in the knee itself. This approach offers much more complete and long lasting improvement for our patients.

This is a common term doctors use to describe advanced knee degeneration particularly where the joint space is difficult to visualize on x-ray. Part of our treatment approach focuses on increasing that joint space and improving the health of the cartilage that remains. Bone on bone knees are great candidates for some of our treatment options.

If you have already had a knee replacement but still have pain then we can rule out arthritis in the knee joint as the cause of your pain and focus on the surrounding structures. We have a very high success rate in helping patients that have had failed knee surgeries.

In most cases the pharmaceutical approach to knee pain is simply to reduce inflammation with steroids or anti-inflammatories, or to cover up the pain with pain killers. The surgical approach focuses on removing or replacing the damaged tissue. Neither of these approaches address the neurologic and biomechanical imbalances that lead to the inflammation and degeneration. By restoring balance to the support structures of the knee along with naturally treating the inflammation and tissue damage we can produce actual healing in the knee joint which in most cases prevents the need for further surgery.