Avoiding Knee Surgery: Advanced Pain Management Alternatives That Work

If you’re dealing with chronic knee pain, you fully understand how much it can affect your everyday life. Walking, playing with your kids, getting in and out of bed — everything is difficult.

At the same time, surgery to fix the problem and the recovery process afterward are also difficult, which is why surgery is a last resort.

At ReGen Pain Management in Plano and Frisco, Texas, Dr. Jonathan Koning and our team start with non-surgical treatments. Here’s a look at some advanced pain management alternatives that help avoid knee surgery.

Start with the diagnosis

The first step is to determine the problem that’s causing your knee pain. Your pain could result from several problems, including arthritis, bursitis, tendon and ligament injuries, meniscus tears, or even a kneecap fracture.

We take your medical history, perform a physical exam, and order imaging if necessary. Once we determine the problem, we can move to effective treatments.

Therapies and lifestyle adjustments

Let’s start with the easy ones. Lifestyle adjustments to relieve your pain include resting from certain activities that cause more pain. For example, try swimming instead of running to lessen the impact on your knees. Losing weight can make a major difference, reducing pressure on your knees.

Physical therapy can also help strengthen the muscles around your knee and stabilize the joint, relieving some of the pressure.

Injections

Injections are the next step. Corticosteroid injections offer short-term reductions in pain, swelling, and inflammation. 

Each shot can last a few months, but eventually its effectiveness will wane. Hyaluronic acid injections improve the knee’s smooth movement and can provide meaningful pain relief. Nerve block injections can also block pain signals.

When we administer these types of injections, we use ultrasound guidance to ensure we’re injecting the medicine in the most effective spot.

Regenerative options

More advanced treatments include regenerative medicine options designed to harness your body’s own healing power. 

These include PRP therapy (platelet-rich plasma), in which we take a sample of your blood, spin it in a centrifuge to concentrate platelets, and then inject the platelet-rich mixture back into your knee at the site of your injury. 

The injection signals your body to start the healing process, repairing damaged cells and even generating new ones, reducing your pain. Stem cell therapy and prolotherapy are also regenerative treatments, but they work differently from PRP.

Our team at ReGen Pain Management works with patients every day who are struggling with knee pain and looking for real solutions. If you’re in pain, come see us and let Dr. Koning evaluate your condition so we can relieve your pain in the best way possible. 

To schedule an appointment, call our location most convenient to you today, or use our online scheduler anytime.