If you have chronic knee pain, you know how it impacts the quality of your life. You wake up in pain, do all of your routine activities in pain, and feel the discomfort getting worse throughout the day. If this sounds like you, it is time to get knee pain treatment that can really help you. Let’s explore the benefits of treating knee pain and what a knee pain program may mean for you.
Treating Knee Pain Promptly Can Manage Its Progression
Some causes of knee pain, such as osteoarthritis, are related to aging. Others may be due to trauma, such as a car accident or fall. The repetitive motions involved in many sports, such as basketball and running, as well as improper athletic training can also cause unwanted knee pain.
Treating knee pain right away can manage or even halt its progression. Your healthcare provider will discuss your symptoms with you, including your pain’s intensity, and how and when it started. You will also likely undergo some digital imaging assessments, such as X-rays or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to view the internal knee structures.
From there, you will receive an individualized care plan from your provider that will feature both at-home and in-clinic treatments. Some at-home treatments may include icing your knees, elevating your legs to reduce swelling, and adding support and compression to the area with the use of an elastic bandage or brace.
In short, if you ignore your knee pain, it will worsen. Instead, treat it with the help of an orthopedic professional.
Treating Knee Pain Can Help Avoid Surgery
Whether your knee pain stems from an acute injury or results from chronic deterioration of the joint, the sooner you get expert assessment and treatment, the better off you will be. A step-by-step program of exercise, bracing, and regenerative treatments, such as viscosupplementation or platelet-rich plasma therapy, can improve joint flexibility, strength, range of motion, and healing.
Based on the results of your imaging tests and a physical examination, your provider will tell you if a customized treatment plan is your best option for rehabilitation and the avoidance or postponement of surgeries, such as knee replacement surgery or arthroscopic repair.
Treating Knee Pain Can Reduce Your Need for Medications
Many prescription pain medications are accompanied by unwanted side effects, such as the potential for addiction. Even consistent use of over-the-counter medications, such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen, can lead to gastrointestinal upset, liver problems, and more.
An individualized care plan for knee pain will help you limit your need for these medications or for repeated cortisone injections, which temporarily relieve painful inflammation. Treatment should be more than symptom relief but must address the underlying reason for the inflammation.
Treating Knee Pain Can Improve Your Overall Strength and Function
Your knees bear your full body weight as you walk, run, and do other complex movements. Treating knee pain can improve the strength and flexibility of your knees, thereby improving your gait, balance, and coordination.
A detailed and customized program of physical therapy can help improve knee function and thereby reduce your pain. Physical therapy can help those struggling with knee pain learn how to:
- Move more efficiently and safely (to reduce fall risks).
- Use knee braces and assistive devices, such as canes and walkers.
- Eliminate lifestyle factors that contribute to osteoarthritis (smoking, poor hydration, overuse of the knee in sports).
Many knee pain patients may also benefit from regenerative medicine treatments, such as viscosupplementation (hyaluronic acid shots to improve joint lubrication) and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy. PRP injections are derived from the patient’s own blood platelets which the doctor purifies and injects into the injured knee. PRP reduces pain by supplying beneficial tissue growth factors contained in the blood’s platelets.
Treating Knee Pain Improves Quality of Life
When you reduce knee pain, you can better and more fully participate in the activities that are important to you, to your loved ones, and to those in your social circles. With knee pain relief, a person’s independence and overall wellness improve. Patients in knee pain programs often feel as though they get their lives back, as their knee pain no longer limits their mobility and daily activities.
Natural Knee Pain Treatments in Jacksonville, Florida
For personalized and comprehensive knee pain care, contact NIVA Health. Our healthcare providers utilize the most advanced and least invasive pain management and rehabilitative techniques for a wide range of health issues, including knee pain.
Let us show you how to prevent degenerative and disease-related pain in your joints. Call today for a consultation at one of our seven locations or request a visit online.
