Knee pain and knee injury can affect people of all ages. You may suffer from chronic knee pain because of an underlying condition or you may suffer knee injury because of direct impact.
If you suffer from a chronic condition, it may originate from your knee joint, kneecap, knee cartilage, tendons, ligaments, or bursa sacs. Chronic knee pain can lead to symptoms like swelling, stiffness, redness and warmth, general weakness of knees, popping and crunching sounds, or inability to straighten the knees.
All of these are signs that you’re suffering from a knee injury or chronic knee pain and need to see an orthopedic surgeon or pain specialist.
However, not all pain specialists are the same. Some of them treat the underlying root cause of chronic knee pain while others merely help deal with the pain. In this article, we discuss how to find the best knee injury doctor and the best treatments for chronic knee pain.
There are three broad categories of pain doctors out there — palliative specialists, interventional pain specialists, and chronic pain specialists.
When finding a doctor, you should look exclusively for interventional pain specialists. They are pain specialists who have been specifically trained to run diagnostic tests to detect the root cause of your chronic pain and treat it with minimally invasive procedures like epidural injections, facet blocks, or ablations.
You should completely avoid doctors who either recommend surgical treatments or those who offer steroids or opioids. Surgeries are unnecessary because minimally invasive procedures are more effective and safer. Opioids don’t treat the underlying root cause of pain and only offer temporary relief — which can eventually lead to addiction.
As such, you should focus specifically on interventional pain specialists.
Board certification isn’t necessary to become an interventional pain specialist. In fact, there are plenty of great pain doctors who don’t aren’t board certified.
So why should you look at board certification?
Well, to get board-certified, pain doctors have to complete their residency, fellowship, and they need to accomplish other professional milestones that establish them as some of the most skilled and experienced doctors in their field.
As such, board certification serves as a guarantee that the pain doctor is reliable.
Similarly to board certification, a pain doctor’s educational background helps you filter out the best pain specialists. Pain specialists who graduate from Ivy League medical schools are known for their expertise and make for some of the best doctors in the world. So you can rely on them for treatment.
You should also gauge the pain specialist’s attitude.
Are they friendly? Are they compassionate? Are they patient?
Pain specialists who patiently study your symptoms and discuss your goals are far more likely to avoid the side effects of treatments. They can also help you feel comfortable during the treatment, which is incredibly important.
You should also go through the pain specialist’s track record to see what their previous patients have to say about them.
The best knee injury doctor will carefully diagnose the root cause of chronic knee pain before proceeding with treatment.
Pain specialists identify the root cause of knee pain via a series of physical examinations, laboratory blood tests, and screening tests like MRIs, CT scans, X-Rays, and Ultrasound scans. These tests help them identify the root cause of your chronic condition.
Knee injury generally occurs because of the following conditions:
Chronic knee pain may occur because of the following underlying conditions.
Once the knee pain doctor identifies the root cause of knee pain, they can proceed to the chronic knee pain treatment. The following are the different types of treatment available:
Pain Treatment Specialists has some of the best knee injury and chronic knee pain doctors who examine the root cause of your chronic condition and treat it using minimally invasive procedures. For more information, please schedule your knee pain appointment today.