Acute and Chronic Knee Pain Treatment | Phoenix and Scottsdale

You don’t think much about your knees – the connective tissues, cartilage and bones – until you have knee pain.

If you have knee pain – swelling, tenderness or bruising – that hurts when you extend or bend your leg, and it doesn’t get better in a week or two, there may be a good reason to see your doctor. 

Typically after imaging and lab tests, your provider may have suggested:

• Medications or supplements like glucosamine and chondroitin (mixed results; moderate to severe arthritis pain seems to benefit most).
• Depending on the condition, injecting corticosteroids (steroids) or hyaluronic acid (a joint lubricant) directly into your joint; benefits may last a few months.
• If your provider believes you need surgery, consider trying nonsurgical options first. Knee surgery is invasive, painful, and rehab may need months or years.

Regenerative Treatments

Every day at the Naturopathic Physicians Group clinic, we provide regenerative treatments as an alternative to surgery. We treat minor damage to cartilage, ligaments or tendons using platelet-rich plasma (PRP), which concentrates your body’s own growth and healing factors out of a small sample of your blood. A few PRP treatments over a few months may result in complete healing of your knee problem. If your knee is more damaged than PRP can effectively treat, you may be a candidate for stem-cell treatment, taking advantage of your own body’s ability to grow good-as-new healthy tissue.

Knee conditions helped by prolotherapy, PRP and stem-cell treatments

The knee is a full weight bearing joint with a great range of motion and is susceptible to many types of stress and injuries. After doing a physical exam and review of your imaging (x-ray or MRI) our clinic will suggest a treatment program that will use (a) prolotherapy to strengthen the integrity of the knee by tightening the ligaments and joint capsule and (b) use PRP to facilitate healing of the cartilage and meniscus. We suggest the use of (c) stem-cell therapy only if indicated in severe degeneration.

• Knee Sprains and Strains: Common injuries often caused by physical activity that stretch, strain or tear the ligaments and joint capsule. These injuries can range from minor to severe, depending on the extent of damage to connective tissues. Ligament laxity is a component of most of the other knee injuries described here.
• Tendinitis/ tendinosis: Tendons are thick cords that join your muscles to your bones. When tendons become irritated or inflamed, the condition is called tendinitis. Tendinitis causes acute pain and responds to prolotherapy.
• Baker’s (Popliteal) Cyst: Inflammation and swelling of the joint capsule which pushes out the joint capsule at the back of the knee. Therapy treats the inflammation and reduces the baker’s cyst.
• Osteoarthritis or Degenerative Joint Disease: A common condition with cartilage degeneration, ligament laxity, calcium deposits and bone spurs which can be mild, moderate to severe. We use a combination of Prolotherapy, PRP and stem cells to treat.
• Bursitis: Inflammation of the fluid-filled sacs found about your joints (bursae) which cushion the tendons and ligaments often found with ligament laxity. By stabilizing the ligaments and joint capsule normal joint function is restored.
• Meniscus Tear: The meniscus is the cartilage cushion between your femur (thigh bone) and tibia (shinbone). Meniscus tears are common and can be mild, moderate or severe and most active adults over 50 have some tears without knowing it. While severe tears often require surgery, mild and moderate tears often respond to PRP and stem cell therapy.
• Runner’s Knee (Chondromalacia/Patellofemoral Syndrome): A common problem that is present when grinding on knee flexion occurs. The cartilage between the kneecap and the femur becomes inflamed, deteriorates or softens. It’s common among all ages and responds consistently with PRP.
• Medial Collateral Ligament Injury (MCL): Often called an MCL sprain, where injuries either stretch the ligament or tear it causing joint hypermobility and accelerated degenerative joint disease (arthritis).
• Osgood-Schlatter Disease: Inflammation of the area just below the kneecap where the patella attaches to the top of the tibia, most common in people under 20 years old.
• Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) or Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) ligament laxity or minor tears: Any knee injury can stretch or tear your ACL or PCL can cause pain and swelling. It is often associated with MCL laxity or torn meniscus.

Contact our naturopathic pain doctors in Phoenix and Scottsdale today to schedule an appointment to treat your knee pain.