Treatment Options for Achy Knees

Instead of “Oh my aching back,” is your litany through the day, “Oh my aching knees”? Are you so stiff in the morning that it’s hard to get going? Knee pain can be very disabling because it limits walking and your desire to move. Not exercising enough is bad for your health, so you’re between a rock and a hard place. Almost a quarter of adults in the U.S. have some form of osteoarthritis, and the knee is the joint most often affected by it. 

Our caring staff at Apollo Pain Management in Sun City Center, Florida, are pain management specialists, and we see many patients with knee pain. We get to the root cause of your knee pain and provide a range of treatments that bring relief. Whether your pain comes from a stretched ligament, a meniscus tear, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or post-traumatic arthritis, we have treatment options.  

Treatment options for knee pain 

Our staff members employ a combination of treatments for relief of your pain. 

Medications

You’ve likely been taking over-the-counter medications, but they aren’t helping enough. Our staff can prescribe stronger prescription pain medications to help control inflammation and reduce your pain. Some newer topical gels offer prescription-strength pain relief, and you can use these for a while longer than oral medication.

However, medication only masks your symptoms, and all drugs have side effects. Taking NSAIDs over a long period of time can cause hives and other serious problems — even organ damage. Medication is paired with other treatments so that you don’t rely on prescriptions. 

Joint injections

A joint injection with cortisone or prednisone can help reduce an arthritis flareup that causes  severe pain and immobility. If your inflammation isn’t severe, or if you have diabetes, we may recommend a hyaluronic acid injection instead. Cortisone can increase blood sugar. 

Hyaluronic acid is a natural substance in your body that lubricates the joints. The hyaluronic acid we inject helps replace lost lubrication due to aging or the effects of trauma. 

Knee brace/splint

Our Apollo Pain Management staff can recommend special knee braces or splints that provide stability and pain relief. If you have pain in one compartment of your knee, an unloader knee brace is helpful. It shifts pressure on the joint from the side of the knee with the pain to the other part of your knee. 

To help you sleep at night, our staff may recommend a compression sleeve brace; it helps increase blood flow and calm inflammation. If the pain is around your kneecap, we may recommend a patellofemoral brace, which normally has a hole around the kneecap. 

Physical therapy 

If your condition could be improved through physical therapy, we make that recommendation. For certain cases of knee arthritis, physical therapy can be very helpful in helping you regain lost mobility and reducing your pain and stiffness. 

Radiofrequency ablation

If your pain is caused by damaged nerves in your knee, radiofrequency ablation can help. This procedure deadens or removes the offending nerve.

Peripheral Nerve Stimulation

If you have severe back pain, we may recommend that you try a spinal cord stimulator.  If you have peripheral nerve pain (PNS), you can test a similar device that works the same way. Both disrupt pain signals traveling between your spinal cord or your peripheral nerves and your brain. 

Your peripheral nerves are those aside from the nerves in your brain and spinal cord. If you have diabetes, you’re more prone to peripheral neuropathy, but it can also result from an injury or other cause. You may feel stabbing or burning pain in your hands or feet that can move into your arms or legs, or you may experience numbness. If you’ve had a knee replacement but still have peripheral nerve pain, neurostimulation in the knee area may work for you.

Bone-on-bone pain

If your knee pain is the result of your bones rubbing together because of worn-out cartilage, you are a candidate for knee replacement, and we refer you to an orthopedic practice. A cortisone injection may offer relief while you’re waiting for surgery. 

Ask your primary care physician to coordinate an appointment with Apollo Pain Management today. We’re here to relieve your pain and get you on the road to better health.