Knee Pain
Knee Pain Treatment in Charlottesville, VA
What Causes Chronic Knee Pain?
Knee pain is usually the result of osteoarthritis, an injury, or a mechanical problem after years of wear and tear. Like any joint in your body, overuse can lead to strain and chronic pain. Many knee problems begin during sports activities or work-related tasks.
Injury-related knee pain often affects your ligaments, tendons, and the fluid around your knee joint. It’s also possible to hurt the bones and cartilage in your knee. If left untreated, you may experience long-term pain.
Some of the most common knee injuries Dr. Lynch checks for include:
- ACL Injuries: tearing of one of the ligaments that connect the bones in your leg, a common injury for football, basketball, and soccer players
- Fractures: Breaking of the knee bones, caused by falls or impacts to your knee
- Torn meniscus: Cartilage (meniscus) around the knee tears from sudden twisting
- Tendinitis: Tendons surrounding the kneecap become irritated and inflamed; common in runners, skiers, and cyclists
- Bursitis: Any type of injury that causes inflammation in the bursae (sacs of cushioning fluid) around the knee
Some mechanical problems Dr. Lynch checks for that cause the need for knee pain treatment include:
- Scar Tissue: The covering on the outside of the muscles is a glycoprotein (sugar protein) called fascia. Over time those glycoproteins break down and stick together or adhere. These adhesions are what create scar tissue which painfully limits range of motion.
- Slipped, Bulging or Herniated Discs in Your Low Back: Any of those conditions can directly relate to your feeling knee pain.
- Muscles: If the Popliteus, Adductors, TFL or PSOAS muscle(s) are weak, strained or extremely tight, you can get a lot of cartilage pain.
- Must check for a problem with the Infrapatellar Tendon as well.
What is Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a form of degenerative arthritis that can cause serious knee pain. OA is the most common form of arthritis and typically affects older adults. OA is diagnosed based on X-ray findings of decreased or asymmetrical joint spacing, bone spurring and subchondral sclerosis (breakdown of the bone surface of the joint). Trauma, repetitive stress, muscular imbalance and postural distortions can create this damage over time. Over time, the cartilage that provides cushioning around the knee joint deteriorates. When the cartilage wears down, it is replaced by inflammatory chemicals that promote swelling and further breakdown of the joint causing you to you feel pain, stiffness, and loss of movement in your knee joint. Irritated nerves can cause spasm of the muscles to create pain around and behind the knee even when lying down.
Osteoarthritis leads many adults to resort to surgery as their only way to get pain relief. Unfortunately this has not shown to be a cure-all for knee pain. At Lynch Chiropractic and Chronic Pain Solutions we help many patients get pain relief without surgery.
How we help people with knee pain?
In order to treat your chronic knee pain, three factors must be determined:
- What is the underlying cause of your chronic knee pain?
- How severe is the damage?
- How much knee pain treatment will it take to help you recover?
The knee pain treatment in our clinic has three primary goals:
- Eliminate your knee pain and inflammation!
- Stimulate growth and repair of the meniscus and other soft tissues!
- Restore full function of the knee so it’s flexible and strong!
Relief begins with an examination (including x-rays) to determine the cause of your pain. After the examination, Dr. Lynch will give you his recommendations of care. Pain relief starts with a conversation. Please call (434) 245-8456 to schedule your knee pain evaluation today!
If you still want more information on the knee pain treatment Dr. Lynch offers, please watch this video and hopefully it will answer any questions you may have.
