Reasons Why Your Knee is in Pain

If you’ve got pain in one or both of your knees, you’re not alone. The knee is one of the most common sites of pain for men and women. With a variety of potential reasons, it can be hard to discover the causes of knee pain – and, in turn, even more difficult to eliminate it.

If you’re suffering from knee pain, there is likely a simple solution. Board-certified physician Dr. Christie Lehman from Asheville Regenerative Orthopedics & Sports Medicine can help you identify the cause of your pain, as well as help you work toward finding a treatment for knee pain.

Why do I have knee pain?

If you’re ready to address your knee problems and find some knee pain relief, we can help you at our Asheville, NC office. The first step to addressing knee pain is figuring out the cause of it. There could be a variety of reasons for your knee pain. It is a weight-bearing joint, so everyday movements and general wear-and-tear have a huge impact on the knee. Body weight and gravity are constantly being forced upon the knees, which can lead to pain – particularly if there is damage to the bone, cartilage, tendons, or ligaments around it.

Some of the most common potential sources of knee pain are:

• Knee osteoarthritis: This is the most common form of arthritis and is often known as “wear-and-tear arthritis.” This happens when the articular cartilage breaks down, causing joint pain. While there is no cure, we can help you slow down the progression and work toward finding relief.
• Meniscus tears: The meniscus acts as a shock absorber for the knee. However, it can be torn due to age-related issues, or sport or some other trauma. In fact, these types of injuries are very common.
• Ligament injuries: Injuries to the ACL are well known. But you could have an injury related to any of the other three ligaments as well, the PCL, LCL, and MCL. These ligaments act as the primary stabilizer for the knee, so if an injury occurs to any of them, it can result in difficultly moving the knee and cause pain.
• Tendinopathy: Tendinopathy occurs when the quadriceps tendon, which attaches the quadriceps muscle to the kneecap, becomes frayed or weakened. Whether through wear and tear or a traumatic injury, this can result in sudden knee pain.

How is knee pain treated?

During your visit with Dr. Lehman, she and her staff will help you evaluate the cause of your sore knees. Once we’ve identified the causes of knee pain, we can create a treatment for knee pain. The type of treatment you will need will vary based on the reason for the knee pain. At our Asheville, NC office, however, we can treat multiple causes of knee pain with nonsurgical treatment options.

Some of the most common solutions we can offer for relief include weight loss, exercise, physical therapy, injections, or braces. In some cases, other popular nonsurgical options we offer are cellular therapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy. These cutting-edge techniques use a patient’s own growth factors and cells to stimulate recovery and knee pain relief. While in some cases, surgery may be the only solution, these other solutions are a great way to treat knee pain before determining if surgery is necessary.

Through state-of-the-art ultrasound-guided injections, Dr. Christie Lehman and her staff can effectively determine the cause of your knee pain and create a treatment plan to reduce your knee pain and improve your quality of life. If you’re interested in scheduling a visit to our Asheville, NC office, or would like more information on knee pain relief, call Asheville Regenerative Orthopedics & Sports Medicine today.