Knee Pain

Knee pain is a common complaint, but it’s one that impacts your quality of life and impede your daily activities. To make matters worse, there are many factors that can cause knee pain. Your doctor knows how to uncover what’s causing your knee pain. Only then can treatment begin.

You may have the early warning signs of knee pain. That’s actually the best time to visit a knee specialist. You’ll minimize the pain in your knee with early intervention and self-care strategies.

Your pain management doctor talks about prevention during your very first visit. Even your physician emphasizes preventative care. But if your knee already hurts, we have testing capability to discover exactly what’s causing your knee pain.

Solutions Begin with Proper Knee Care

Most knee pain is caused by an injury or repetitive motion. If you run, hike or work in situations that require constant bending, you can end up with knee pain. Aging — and the consequences from years of wear and tear — take its toll on your knees.

Underlying conditions such as arthritis and obesity often have a direct impact on the health of your knees. Preventing knee pain starts by taking your pain management doctor’s advice to:

• Develop an effective stretching routine
• Practice proper form while you exercise
• Ice your knee at the first signs of discomfort
• Take regular breaks from demanding work
• Wear orthotics, such as knee braces, when they help
• Protect your knees with knee pads while gardening or playing contact sports
• Soak in Epsom salts
• Lose weight if you need to
• Elevate your legs

Knee Pain Risk Factors and Causes

Risks for developing knee pain include:

• A history of injury
• A diagnosis of Osgood-Schlatter disease
• Tight ligaments and muscles in your thighs, hips and shins
• A sudden increase in exercise
• An improper gait
• Non-supportive shoes
• Gout
• Torn tendons
• A dislocated kneecap
• Ongoing back pain

Diagnostics, such as x-rays and digital scans, reveal the extent of the damage to your knee. Whether due to a sports or work-related injury or accident, your doctor determines the cause of your pain. It may be a:

• Meniscus tear
• Knee ligament tear
• Sprained knee
• Patellofemoral pain syndrome
• Patellar tendonitis
• Bursitis
• Tendonitis knee
• Iliotibial band syndrome
• Chondromalacia patella

Physical Therapy for Knee Pain Relief

When self-care and at-home treatments don’t provide sufficient relief, your pain management doctor in Queens, NY may send you to physical therapy to rebuild your knee strength and train you to move in ways that don’t cause further injury.

Your doctor monitors your physical therapy to ensure your specific needs are met. Some of the tools and techniques available include:

• Manual therapy
• Spinal and joints manipulation
• Shockwave therapy
• Active release technique
• Graston technique
• Trigger point therapy
• Trigenics therapy
• Laser therapy
• Cold laser therapy
• Isokinetic exercise
• Functional exercise training
• Myofascial pain treatment
• Cupping therapy
• Spinal decompression
• Kinesiotape
• Vestibular therapy/training
• Marathon recovery treatment

Other Knee Pain Treatments

Depending on the severity of your pain and the effectiveness of your lifestyle changes and physical therapy sessions, your pain management doctor may decide to try a more invasive technique. Even minimally invasive surgery is put off until you know the other treatments haven’t worked for you.

• Steroid injections
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Trigger point injections
• Spinal cord stimulator
• Sympathetic block
• Plasma-rich platelet (PRP) injections
• Stem cell therapy
• Nerve block injection
• Infusion therapy