Knee pain treatment in Hyderabad,without surgery

What is knee pain?

Knee pain is pain arising from any of the structures in and around the knee joint: the cartilage lining the bones, the meniscus, the ligaments, the tendons, or the small nerves that carry pain signals from the joint. It can follow an injury or build up slowly over years.

Where the pain is felt does not always tell you which structure is causing it, which is why the cause needs to be found before anything is treated.

Common causes of knee pain

Most long-standing knee pain has one of a handful of causes, and more than one can be present in the same knee.

• Osteoarthritis — gradual wear of the cartilage, more common with age, excess weight or an old injury
• Meniscal tears — from a twisting injury, or from wear in an older knee
• Ligament sprains and slackness — a knee that feels loose or gives way
• Tendon problems around the kneecap, often from overuse or sport
• Bursitis — inflammation of a fluid-filled sac near the joint

Symptoms of knee pain

Symptoms depend on the cause, but these are the ones people describe most often.

• Pain on walking, climbing stairs or getting up from a chair
• Stiffness, especially in the morning or after sitting
• Swelling or a feeling of warmth around the joint
• Clicking, grinding or catching
• A knee that gives way or will not fully bend or straighten

How Halcyon finds the cause

At Halcyon’s Hyderabad centre the consultant who examines your knee also scans it with diagnostic ultrasound in the same room, so the likely source of the pain is identified in one sitting. Bring any recent X-ray or MRI reports; they add to what the scan shows.

Before radiofrequency is used, a diagnostic block confirms that the genicular nerves are the ones carrying the pain. If the block settles the pain, the treatment follows from that answer rather than from a guess.

Non-surgical treatment options at Halcyon

The treatment is chosen by what the scan shows, not from a menu. The usual options are:

Halcyon is a non-surgical centre. If you have advanced grade 4 arthritis with joint deformity, a knee replacement may still be the right answer, and you will be told that plainly rather than treated anyway.

• COOLIEF cooled radiofrequency of the genicular nerves — the US FDA-cleared cooled RF system, used to interrupt the pain signal from an arthritic knee
• Regenerative injection — growth factor concentrate from your own blood, placed under ultrasound where the tissue has worn or torn
• Prolotherapy — a natural irritant injected into a slack ligament or tendon to restart its repair, suited to a knee that gives way

What to expect on the day and after

If a procedure is right for you, it is usually done in the same appointment, under local anaesthetic and ultrasound guidance. You stay awake throughout, there is no general anaesthetic and no admission, and most people are home within about two hours.

Most people walk out and go about a normal day, with aftercare instructions and a review date. After prolotherapy some soreness for a day or two is normal. How long relief lasts varies with the cause and how worn the joint is, so the consultant gives you a realistic answer for your knee.

When to see a doctor

Book an assessment if knee pain has lasted more than a few weeks, keeps returning, or is limiting walking, sleep or work. Some situations need urgent care at a hospital emergency department instead:

• A hot, red, swollen knee with fever, which can mean infection
• A fall or injury after which you cannot put weight on the leg, or the knee looks deformed
• Swelling, pain and tenderness in the calf, especially after a long journey or surgery