Knee pain treatment in Austin

• Osteoarthritis. Wear of the cartilage, usually on the inner side of the knee first. It often hurts on stairs and swells after vigorous activity.
• Meniscus tears. The two cartilage discs between the thigh bone and shin bone can tear, causing clicking, pain, or a knee that gets "stuck."
• Ligament injuries. The ACL, MCL, PCL and LCL hold the knee together. Twisting falls, common in skiing and field sports, can tear them and leave the knee unstable. These ligaments are also frayed by repetitive motion and aging.
• Tendon problems. The quadriceps and patellar tendons connect the thigh muscle and kneecap to the shin and can become irritated or injured.
• Bone bruises. An impact can bruise the femur, tibia or kneecap (a "bone marrow lesion"), which can be surprisingly painful.
• Alignment and muscle imbalance. Weak quadriceps, hamstrings or calf muscles, worn-out shoes and extra body weight all change how load travels through the knee.

Successful treatment starts with a thorough evaluation of the knee’s supporting structures and the muscles that move it. Dr. Dumitrescu combines a hands-on physical examination with your imaging, usually an MRI, to identify what is injured and how badly. We call this anthropometric analysis.

Bring any X-rays or MRI reports you already have. If imaging is needed, we will tell you which study and why.

Depending on what the exam and imaging show, a plan may include one or more of these:

• Physical therapy and strengthening. Correcting abnormal movement patterns and strengthening the quadriceps, hamstrings and calves protects the joint. We work with both chiropractors and physical therapists and we will refer you appropriately.
• Image-guided injections for arthritis pain. Steroid or hyaluronic acid injections can calm pain and inflammation. We place them with ultrasound or X-ray guidance rather than "blind," so the medication arrives exactly where it needs to be.
• Regenerative treatments. We offer a vast array of regenerative injections that are tailored to every individual patient’s severity of injury or degeneration, the particular structures affected, and the patient’s age.

For a meniscus tear, treatment is delivered into the tear itself; for arthritis, into the joint and the bone beneath the cartilage. In the days after a regenerative injection it is normal to feel more inflammation as the healing response starts. This usually settles within a few days.

Dr. Dumitrescu tore his ACL, MCL and medial meniscus skiing in Park City. After four PRP treatments, his follow-up MRI showed the ACL, MCL and medial meniscus no longer needed surgical repair. He writes about it in PRP: Everything You Need to Know. Individual results vary, and not every injury responds the same way.

Some knees are better served by a surgeon, and we will tell you if yours is one of them. In general, knee surgery is done for instability (for example, an athlete who has a complete ACL tear and needs to go back to sports as soon as possible), a meniscal tear ("bucket handle tear") that locks the knee, or advanced painful osteoarthritis of the knee that has become debilitating.