Managing Knee Pain with Schrock Medical
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Knee Pain and Being Active
Most people suffer from knee pain at some point in their lives, it could be a daily annoyance or a debilitating factor that interferes with daily life. Adults experience knee pain more frequently. Being active is GREAT, but sometimes a lifestyle consisting of sports, exercise or even recreational activity can cause serious injuries such as muscle strains, tendinitis and others which cause damage to ligaments and cartilage. The pain one experiences can be acute to start and turn into chronic knee pain, often leading one down the path of surgery. Approximately over 700,000 people get knee replacement surgery each year in the United States. In 2017, over 966,000 people received the operation.
Knee pain located in the middle region of the knee is very common. This is where the joint connects the thigh bone to the shinbone. Another common area people experience knee pain is in the kneecap area. It is also not uncommon for people to experience the pain in both.
Here we will discuss the most common causes of knee pain that we have seen over the years at Schrock Medical Clinic.
Knee Ligament Injuries
A ligament injury in your knee will most likely cause knee pain. The femur is connected to your tibia and fibula through the ligaments. The ligaments keep the knee stable by holding the bones together. Knee ligament sprains and tears are unfortunately very common in sports. If you played sports or are a sports fan you are very familiar with the dreaded ACL, PCL, and MCL injuries. Knee ligament type injuries may also occur from unavoidable accidents like slipping on ice or even a car accident.
The reason that the ACL injury is the most detrimental because it is the main ligament that runs in the middle of the joint between the thigh bone and shinbone. That being said, ACL injuries are the most common ligament injury in sports. Any ligament injury has the potential to cause a significant amount of pain and eventually require surgery.
Symptoms of a knee ligament injury can include:
- Red or sore knees
- Pain or difficulty walking
- Popping or crunching noises
- Knee feeling like it’s giving out
Meniscus Tears
When cartilage of the knee tears you have knee pain. Knee cartilage consists of two menisci on both sides of the joint: the medial meniscus which is fibrocartilage a semicircular band that spans in the middle of the knee joint, and the lateral meniscus which is contained on the outside of the knee. A common cartilage tear is in the meniscus. It is a serious tear as it usually requires surgery. A meniscus tear occurs with a single movement, whereas an ACL tear can happen in a variety of ways. Someone can tear their meniscus with a single twist or turn. The older a person gets the higher the risk they run of tearing their Meniscus. As a person ages their cartilage gets weaker and thins out, so it is in a more vulnerable position to tear. Symptoms of a cartilage tear are similar to knee ligament injury symptoms with a couple exceptions: The pain tends to get worsening stiffness days after an injury, and the knee locks out occasionally.
Knee Arthritis
Arthritis occurs when joints in the body become inflamed, most commonly occurring in the knee. Arthritis only gets worse as time goes on. It causes chronic pain and inevitably requires surgery. There are three types of arthritis that are extremely common which are: rheumatoid arthritis, post-traumatic arthritis, and osteoarthritis. We won’t go into detail on all forms of knee arthritis here.
Symptoms of arthritis in the knee include:
- stiffness and swelling in the knee
- difficulty bending the knee fully
- knee pain
- limited range of motion
- stiffness of the knee
- swelling of the joint
- knee tenderness
- deformity and weakness
- pain that worsens over time
Diagnosing Knee Pain
Schrock Medical’s holistic approach to knee pain will help you get to the root cause and give you relief. As with other symptoms that would bring you to our clinic, patients with knee pain will receive a detailed consultation, thorough ortho. and neuro. examination, and x-rays if necessary. Schrock Medical has treatment options that can help with knee pain, and much more.
Is Surgery the ONLY Option for Knee Pain?
At Schrock Medical Clinic, we treat the entirety of the condition, instead of just micro managing the symptoms. Sadly those that do not seek a second opinion often settle with surgery when they are experiencing severe pain. They are willing to do anything to make it go away, not realizing that there are alternatives with far less risk. Surgery isn’t right for everyone, and in-fact is wrong for many people. There are very effective methods for treating pain that do not require surgery such as chiropractic care, physical therapy, exercise and pain reducing injections. The type of treatment plan depends on the patient. When someone comes into our integrative medical clinic they get a personalized treatment plan which depends on the patient’s age, level of pain, and other underlying conditions.
It’s important to get a FREE consultation with Schrock Medical BEFORE you resort to surgery. If we feel we can not help you, we will refer you on to an Orthopedic surgeon. For more information call us today or request an appointment.
Treating Knee Pain with Medicine
Depending on the patient and their diagnosis, our PA or NP may prescribe a series of injections. These include but are not limited to: trigger point injections (TPI’s), Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), Prolotherapy, Hyaluronic Acid, Sarapin, and others. Our regenerative therapies have proven very successful in helping treat knee pain. Ultrasound imaging is used to guide these injection.
- Regenerative medicine is a combination of mesenchymal cells, hyaluronic acid, and growth factors and cytokines to help heal the joint and repair tissue.
- Trigger Point Injections – TPI is a combination of lidocaine and aline to break down toxins and relieve tension.
- Platelet Rich Plasma – PRP is a concentration of a patient’s own platelets to accelerate the healing of injured tendons, ligaments, muscles and joints. In this way, PRP injections use each individual patient’s own healing system to improve musculoskeletal problems. PRP injections are prepared by taking anywhere from one to a few tubes of your own blood and running it through a centrifuge to concentrate the platelets. These activated platelets are then injected directly into your injured or diseased body tissue. This releases growth factors that stimulate and increase the number of reparative cells your body produces.
- Prolotherapy is composed of dextrose and is injected into the connective tissue surrounding the joint to help relieve inflammation and generate new tissue. This relieves pain and can add strength to the supporting structures.
- Hyaluronic Acid is naturally found in the human body and is necessary for healthy joint tissue. Injecting HA into the knees bathes the connective tissue making it more supple and adds lubrication to relieving pain.
- Sarapin is derived from a plant and is anti-inflammatory. It helps relieve pain, reduce inflammation and lubricate the joint.
In most of our patient cases, these injections can result in relief immediately or in a couple of weeks. Knee pain can be debilitating and many individuals go years living with this pain. You do not have to live like this! For more information call us today or request an appointment.
Additional Remedies for Knee Pain
At Schrock Medical we also offer therapies that help one dealing with knee pain. From knee braces, red light therapy, cold laser therapy, and natural supplements.
- Knee Bracing
Phenomenal results are being achieved daily in many areas of regenerative therapy–treating a variety of physical conditions. A now common use of regenerative therapy is treatment of osteoarthritic or degenerated joints. We are finding a high success rate of regen. med. injections into a joint can be even further improved by unloading the joint immediately following the injection with a brace to ensure proper healing and support. We fit patients everyday with braces to help accelerate the healing process. We highly recommend a knee brace for these reasons: -
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- To return the joint to it’s proper position during the healing process, ensuring the joint heals correctly.
- To open up the degenerated compartment of the joint, thus making space for the regeneration of tissue to occur.
- To keep pressure and excessive inflammation away from the joint. Inflammation is necessary for the healing process to occur. By keeping the pressure and any possible excessive inflammation away from the joint, the brace will be creating an optimum environment for the stem cells to be effective.
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- Red Light Therapy (LED)
With over 40 years of research, enough scientific data has been collected to recommend red light therapy and infrared therapy for all arthritis sufferers no matter the cause or severity. Reduced inflammation, pain relief and accelerated healing are the effects of light therapy studied the most. By potentially decreasing inflammation within the joint, there will likely be a decrease in pain. Practically all areas have been studied in human clinical trials including on; the knees, shoulders, jaw, fingers/hands/wrists, back, elbows, neck and ankles/feet/toes. Red light therapy delivers the exact light wavelengths which penetrate deep into the skin and sends healing energy to the injured cells. With more energy, your injured cells can function more efficiently, rejuvenate themselves, and repair damage. Red light therapy can activate the healing of your cells on a deeper level. Ask about our LED’s to help with your knee pain. - Cold Laser Therapy
Low-level laser therapy has been studied and used for pain control, anti-inflammatory effects and its healing efficacy. Improvements can also be in knee range of motion and physical function. Cold laser is used in conjunction with our Rehab. Therapy to improve recovery. See this study - Supplements (Salizain, Pro-Enz, Zymain)
Schrock Medical offers a variety of supplements to help with joint and muscle pain. Over-the-counter pain meds such as ibuprofen are recommended to keep inflammation and pain at bay. Discuss with your Provider for appropriate amount to take so you don’t overdo it. Some options we offer are for acute and chronic pain. Pro-Enz is designed for managing inflammation on a long-term basis as it promotes healing & natural pain management. It is formulated for extended nutritional support of inflammation management.
The Takeaway
Causes of knee pain range from injury to natural wear and tear to genetic conditions. If you are experiencing frequent knee pain you should have it evaluated. Knee pain while common usually signals a serious condition that needs to be treated. It’s important to treat a condition or injury before it gets worse. We want to stress the importance of listening to your body. If you are in a significant amount of pain and it’s getting in the way of the life you love, you don’t need to keep dealing with it. There are treatment plans out there for you, WITHOUT SURGERY! Contact Schrock Medical today and we will help get you out of pain.
For more information call us today or request an appointment.
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