Pain in the knees can be a result from many causes. Dr. Butler’s first step to reducing knee pain is by discovering what the problem is. Because the knee is a very important joint in mobility, it is prone to being damaged.
Most common causes of knee pain:
- Overly-tight muscles of the legs. Many times, tight muscles of the thigh or hamstrings, or even calf muscles, can cause pain in the knee. This is due to the tensions that are created in the knee from the tightness. Leg muscle strains/sprains can also cause knee pain. Chiropractic care can help greatly to reduce these kinds of injuries and reduce the knee pain.
- Damage to ligaments of the knee. Usually a result of trauma. ACL, MCL, collateral ligaments can get torn, partially torn or damaged in many ways and can be painful, from mild pain to severe, depending on the severity of the damage. A chiropractor can determine the extent of ligament damage and make proper recommendations, help, and/or referrals for other orthopedic solutions and treatment.
- Meniscus problems. The meniscus of the knee are two pads that work to reduce friction between the upper and lower bones of the leg. Determining whether or not there is a knee meniscus issue can be easily done by a chiropractor. From there, proper follow up treatment or referral can be done.
- Knee Misalignments. This is a very common cause of knee pain. It can be very uncomfortable and hard for the patient to pinpoint. Although discomfort seems to usually occur more to the middle-outer part of the knee area. Chiropractors are specialist in diagnosing and effective correction treatment of knee misalignments.
- Biomechanical tracking problems due to dysfunction of the hips or lowback. Since the knee is between the hips/lowback and the feet, it sometimes develops problems that need to be addressed at the hips/pelvis/lowback areas. The key to success is having your chiropractor determine the true source of the mechanical problem. This will then stabilize the knee.
- Foot problems, or flat feet, foot alignment issues. These problems often cause issues in the knees. A chiropractor can determine if it is actually a foot alignment issue that may be causing injury/ pain to the knee. Correction of the foot issue very often greatly helps to reduce knee pain. We use a foot alignment system in our office called “ALine” to determine proper alignment of the foot in relationship to the ankles and knees. The system uses a laser to show proper alignment of the three parts of the leg. We’ve helped many, many patients with all kinds of lower body problems by using this system.
- Other less common sources of knee pain. Such as, Chondromalacia patella, Osgood Schlatter’s disease (most common in boys ages 12-17), infections, malignancies, etc. These cause knee pain, but are not nearly as common as the other causes mentioned above. A chiropractor can differentiate the causes, and refer to the proper specialist for these more unusual conditions.
Bottom line is… If you are having a problem with your knee, we are specialist in diagnosis, and treatment of the knee. Our methods are non-invasive, conservative, non-drug, and non-surgical. We have helped hundreds of patients with a variety of knee related problems of the years, with great success.