Chronic pain from a knee injury can limit your mobility and keep you from enjoying the things you once loved doing. However, you may feel you’re too young for a knee replacement. So what can you do? Is it possible for knee pain to be treated without resorting to surgical intervention? The answer to that is YES!!
At Southern Pain And Spine Specialists in Charlotte, Matthews and Waxhaw, North Carolina, Dr. Alamarie, M.D., provides a wide range of treatments for knee pain, from completely conservative to minimally invasive.
Non-invasive Treatments For Knee Pain
Non-invasive treatments are applied externally, to help relieve pain and inflammation and restore mobility and flexibility. The most common conservative treatments include:
R.I.C.E.
Rest, ice, compression, and elevation are the four basics applied to simple knee injuries. Sometimes your knee just needs time and space to heal, and giving yourself a break for a week or so to camp out on the couch with a bag of frozen peas is the road to recovery.
Physical Therapy Or Massage Therapy
In cases of a severe strain or sprain, you might need a little extra help from a professional. Physical therapy rehabilitates your knee and makes it stronger. Massage therapy focuses on relieving trigger points that cause spasms of pain.
Minimally-Invasive Treatments For Knee Pain
Minimally invasive therapies often involve injections of some sort, introducing liquids or gels with healing properties into or around the joint to reduce inflammation, provide lubrication, ease pain, and boost healing.
Corticosteroid injections
Corticosteroids can reduce inflammation quickly, alleviating pain from swelling that causes pressure on a nerve or surrounding tissues
Hyaluronic acid injections
Your body makes hyaluronic acid (HA) naturally, but sometimes production needs a little boost. HA injections give your joint the lubrication it needs to move more freely.
PRP and stem cell injections
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections are created using your own blood centrifuged to concentrate platelets in the plasma while getting rid of white and red blood cells.
The concentrated PRP is injected into your joint to attract growth factors to the area and speed healing.
Stem cell therapy performs a similar task- it boosts the regenerative power of your system and relieves your knee pain in the process.
Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA)
RFA of the nerves that supply the knee joint is another way to treat the pain from the knee after failing other conservative measures listed above including for people that have had total knee replacement and still suffering from knee pain.
Let’s Just Think About All The Critical Jobs Your Knees Perform. They:
- Enable you to walk
- Support you when you’re standing
- Play an integral role when you raise and lower your body to sit or recline
- Serve as a type of shock absorber
- Keep you stable overall
We Urge You To Be Proactive When It Comes To Knee Pain
For many instances of knee pain, one or more of these more conservative treatments mentioned above will set you on the road to recovery without the need for surgical intervention. Which is why you should not put off your pain any longer!
Waiting to seek treatment for knee pain doesn’t just prolong your discomfort. It puts you at risk for further injury and extends the amount of time your movement is impaired.
If you’re suffering from chronic knee pain, Southern Pain & Spine Specialists provides affordable regenerative medicine treatments for patients in the Charlotte area. Contact us today at 833-704-7246 to schedule an appointment. Or simply click here to schedule your consultation online.
