Defeat Knee and Hip Pain for Good- Choose Physical Therapy First!

Hip pain and knee pain are a part of life and vary from person to person. Cartilage can wear down in the knees, low back, and hip as a result of overuse and lead to discomfort or even arthritis. All it can take is one simple injury to leave you in pain time after time. While some cases may be so severe that they could require surgery, there are many situations where physical therapy could result in the most benefit.  Our locations have helped many patients overcome and recover knee or hip pain. We will work with you and get you back to doing the things you love.

Analyzing Your Pain 

In your initial evaluation, we will assess where your experiencing pain and what type of pain your having. For example, hip pain can be located in many places: the groin, the front of the hip, the side, the lower back or the buttocks. Knee pain can be on the front or back of the knee joint. It can result from a medial injury on the inside of the knee, or iliotibial band stress, which will lead to pain on the outside of the knee.

Hip pain can often feel like a constant dull ache. Knee pain, however, is often assessed as one of several different types of pain:

• Acute Pain: This is the most intense type of pain that normally occurs in the first week after an injury. For this type of pain, rest and isolation for at least a week are recommended for healing.
• Subacute Pain: This pain is still intense, but much less than acute pain. It occurs two to six weeks after an initial injury. In this period of pain, gentle motions will become one part of your treatment in an attempt to increase your range of motion and facilitate healing.
• Chronic Pain: This is pain that lasts longer than two or three months. If you’ve been dealing with serious knee pain for a lengthy amount of time, you should think about seeing a specialist for a full exam and  X-rays.

Getting Started With Your Physical Therapy

After your initial evaluation with one of our physical therapists, further testing of your knee or hip pain should be in order. The process for both types of injury will be similar to the following:

• Gait Analysis: Your physical therapist will assess how you walk to determine if anything is out of the ordinary with your gait.
• Palpation: Some gentle palpation of the knee or hip with the therapist’s hands will help to check the knee structure or hip to find where the pain is originating.
• Check Range of Motion: Your therapist will measure to see how far your knee or hip can bend. This will help determine the course of therapy, because it will give your specialist an idea of the types and intensity of exercises you should begin working on.
• Strength Checks: Testing the strength of your knee and hip structures will give the physical therapist an idea of whether your pain is due to an injury or imbalance of some type.

Most of the excersises you do at our facity can be done at home. These exercises will help strengthen the muscle structures around the knee or hip (or both). Your physical therapist will likely also run you through the exercises during regular checkups to monitor your progress and to make sure you’re on the best course of treatment.

Get ready to kick knee and hip pain to the curb, give HealthQuest a call today to schedule an appointment with one of our physical therapists.