Hip, Knee and Ankle Pain

Hip pain is a common complaint in our clinic. Hip pain is often not from the hip joint at all but rather referred pain from the lower back and sacroiliac joints. Hip pain radiating from the lower back or sacroiliac joints most often radiates to the back, or side of the hip, whereas hip pain coming from the actual ball and socket hip joint most commonly radiates to the front side, in the groin area. Wherever your pain is coming from, we have the diagnostic capabilities to figure out where the pain is actually coming from and the skills necessary to fix it in most cases.

While we can eliminate most forms of hip pain, including pain from early signs of osteoarthritis, some advanced forms of hip disease do require surgery. The most common form of hip pain that is beyond the capabilities of being treated with physical therapy and chiropractic is advanced, severe osteoarthritis of the hip joint. In this condition which usually affects seniors, the cartilage in the hip joint has completely worn away, causing bone on bone contact in the joint. This is very painful and seriously decreases the mobility of the hip joint, often causing a limp. When the hip joint becomes so worn out that normal walking is impossible, or the pain is too much to bear, surgery becomes the best option. The orthopedic profession has been replacing hips for so many years now, they have really become very good at it. If we find you have osteoarthritis that is too advanced for our treatment methods, we have excellent orthopedic surgeons to refer you to for hip replacement surgery.

Knee pain is another common complaint in our clinic. Most people don’t realize knee pain can be treated successfully in a clinic like ours. We treat many types of knee pain. What makes our approach unique to other professionals is our focus on restoring normal joint mobility in the knee joint. An injury to the knee creates an inflammatory process in the knee joint which leads to the formation of scar tissue in the joint and surrounding the joint. This scar tissue alters the way the knee moves, usually affecting its ability to fully extend normally. In addition to using physical therapy modalities and transverse friction massage to improve the flexibility of the scar tissue, we have manipulative procedures at our disposal to restore the normal motion in the knee. In addition to restoring the normally mobility of the knee joint, the muscles of the knee also have to be treated to restore normal function. Some of the types of knee problems we treat range from tendonitis, to mild disruptions of the meniscus, to mild to moderate osteoarthritis of the knee. In addition to actually treating the knee, the entire kinematic chain must also be analyzed, and treated if necessary. This includes assessing the foot, ankle, hip, and sacroiliac joints as well. Any problem with these joints and the muscles that surround them can contribute to knee pain.

Ankle problems are also treated in our clinic successfully. We often see ankle sprains that have failed to improve with traditional medical care, often many months after the injury. It is common that excessive scar tissue has formed around the ankle sprain causing the ankle to lose its normal range of motion. In addition to using physical therapy modalities and transverse friction massage to improve the flexibility of the scar tissue around the ankle, manipulative procedures are also applied to restore the normal motion to the ankle. Rehab exercises are then used to strengthen the ankle and improve balance.