Consistent knee pain is debilitating, often resulting in pulling out of activities you enjoy and worrying about what type of invasive procedure may be necessary to help you recover. Aching knees are more common as a person gets older, but at any point, it may be possible to see significant improvement. While surgical knee replacement is always an option, it’s not the only thing you can do. Knee repair without surgery is often an option and is best as a first step.
Don’t be afraid to explore physical therapy and other treatments like the following as the first steps in your journey to reduce knee pain.
How to Avoid Knee Surgery or Replacement
The question many people have is how they are going to stop the pain they feel. Knee pain is often due to inflammation within the area. In some cases, the cartilage within the knee wears down, decreasing space within the joint and affecting movement. When that happens, many people believe the first step to fixing this joint is to have the knee replaced.
Instead, consider these alternatives that may offer significant improvement without the need for knee surgery.
Physical Therapy
You may think that physical therapy isn’t the right step – after all, it hurts to move the joint, so why would you want to do more of it? That’s a common miscaption related to physical therapy, though. Generally, this type of therapy helps to improve the way your knee functions, strengthens muscles and reduces inflammation.
Unlike more complex recoveries, like ACL tears, physical therapy for knee pain can start to provide improvement right away. You may see your condition improve consistently over a period of time, allowing you to get around more without debilitating pain.
Exercise
Exercise is an excellent way to build strength and tone muscles, but it can also help to encourage proper movement of the limb. However, it’s critical to do so in the proper way, minimizing the risk of further injury to that joint. When you work with a physical therapist following your injury, you’ll be able to create a customized treatment plan that addresses the specific exercise methods best suited for you.
Exercise is also a great way to help to reduce inflammation because it stimulates blood flow to the area and encourages the natural healing process. Once you start moving it again properly in a controlled environment, the pain lessens.
Weight Management
A secondary benefit to exercise comes with weight management. The more weight your joints have to carry and manage, the harder the workload is. By working to reduce that with proper strategies, you may see a significant improvement in the pain you have. In many cases, being less active can actually worsen your condition due to the higher risk of gaining weight. It’s hard to think about exercise, though, to lose weight when your knees hurt.
That’s what helps to make physical therapy after an injury or chronic condition like this so important. It creates a solid strategy for getting you moving again without pain, and that can ultimately help to improve the way you feel, give you the boost of energy you need, and help improve your overall health.
Medication and Injections
Some people benefit from medication and injections for knee pain. This often can be a starting point for dealing with initial pain while you work to build up your fitness level and strengthen your muscle performance. There are a few different types of treatments your doctor may recommend:
- Corticosteroid injections: These injections are designed to reduce the inflammation occurring in the knee, which is often one of the major causes of discomfort and pain. That inflammation often causes swelling that makes it harder to move. These injections typically work for several months.
- Hyaluronic acid injections: A similar process using a type of joint lubrication, this method helps to make it easier for your joint to move without the bone-on-bone feel, reducing pain.
- PRP and stem cell injections: Your body’s stem cells, which are powerful concentrations of platelets that help to encourage the restructuring of the joint cells, can also help.
Alternative Therapies
A few alternative and noninvasive options exist for improving knee pain without surgery. Take a look at these options:
- Acupuncture: These procedures involve virtually no discomfort, but they can stimulate the immune system to support healing in a targeted area, such as the joint or the tissues surrounding it.
- Dry Needling: Increases pressure pain threshold and range of motion, decreases muscle tone, and decreases pain.
- Glucosamine: This type of dietary supplement has been shown to provide people with improved mobility in all joints of the body. It can be specifically helpful to those struggling with arthritic pain. It helps to promote cartilage growth and repair, offering improvement to pain.
- Bracing: In mild cases, you may benefit from bracing, which is the process of applying a brace to the external structure of the knee to support its proper function and to offer more support to you as you walk. Braces may be foam, leather, metal, plastic, or fabric.
Keep in mind that all of these treatment options can work together with each other, which means that you may benefit from more than one at a time. The goal of improving joint mobility and reducing pain is to help your knee work properly, which can ultimately help you get your life back. However, it’s best to have a customized treatment plan created for one, one that addresses the underlying cause of your pain as well as the strategies you may have already used to see improvement.
Rock Valley Physical Therapy Is Here to Help!
As you consider these options for knee repair without surgery, know that your first step should be a consultation with our team at Rock Valley Physical Therapy. Allow our team to help you determine the best rehabilitation strategy for your current situation and create a plan that strengthens your need while reducing your pain. Contact us now for a consultation.