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Causes of Knee Pain?

The causes of knee pain are numerous. Yet some of the more common issues that could be causing your knee  pain can be ​

  • Knee Sprain or strain

  • Meniscal injury or tear

  • Injury from sports (micro-trauma) and accidents 

  • Occupations that required  extensive standing or walking

  • Carrying excess body weight


Most knee pain is caused by trauma that  never fully heals.  For example, after a fall or car accident  you sustain an injury resulting in knee pain.  The body in turn, tries to immobilize the injured knee causing inflammation, swelling, joint stiffness, and activates the nerve pain pathways in order to avoid  any further use or injury to the already damaged knee joint. This type of response immobilizes the joint and  causes the fluid within the joint to become stagnant and itself becomes an inflammatory marker (presence of cytokines)*.  This  stagnant fluid sends signals to the body and causes a localized immune response. This immune response in turn causes further inflammation, pain and  leads to  the breakdown of  bone and catilage. The same process occurs in the knee of a sedentary or  overweight person. Both conditions again will cause stagnation of the joint fluid  followed by a cascade of inflammation and eventually knee joint deterioration.  Treatments such as corticosteroids slow down or stop the repair process. Physical therapy exercises and modalities such as heat further aggravate the joint causing further swelling, joint stiffness and tightening of  the surrounding musculature. The healing process takes time.  In our rush to make deadlines and complete tasks our health and healing takes a back seat. Thus we end up with quick fixes that lead to chronic cases of inflammation and pain including chronic knee pain. 

*This is what NSAIDs  target. NSAIDs  inhibit cytokine activity.

Chronic Knee Pain?

The second most common type of musculoskeletal pain after low back is knee pain. With today's aging population, our sedentary lifestyle and the prevalence of obesity in the U.S. knee pain is on the rise. Total knee replacements are becoming more common and account for over 800,000 surgeries per year in the U.S. alone. Interestingly enough, chronic knee pain often  leads to hip pain. This occurs because the hip must compensate for any altered knee mechanics. Very often hip replacement surgery will follow knee replacement surgery. 

"close-up of a knee and labeled knee structures"
"free pic credentials"
"Blue and white animation of a body in motion and knee inflammation"
"media acknowledgment"

Our approach to chronic knee pain and knee osteoarthritis addresses the most common issues found within most symptomatic knees. It addresses fluid stagnation and swelling within the knee. It is quite common to take x-rays of a painful knee with no signs of osteophytes (cacilfication) or signs of arthritic changes. The pain comes from the pressure buildup within the knee itself.  On the other hand, osteoarthritic knees or knees that have been inflamed for a long time will present with  a lack of joint space or a narrowing of the joint.  Our 5 point treatment addresses all of these concerns as follows:

  1. Chiropractic adjustment helps re-align a possibly subluxated extremity.

  2. Muscle scraping and  Shockwave therapy address adhesions and calcifications found in surrounding musculature

  3.  Acupuncture  helps alleviate pain.

  4. Supplementation to help support the essential  building blocks and maintenance of healthy bone, cartilage and adequate production of synovial fluid for knee joint lubrication.

  5. Knee Decompression  further helping with adhesion breakdown, increase of joint space, "milking" of the joint fluid and increase in knee joint range of motion.

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