Knee Pain Specialists in Nashville

Whether you are lifting a heavy package you ordered or engaging in a high-impact activity like running, your knees can undergo a lot of stress from your everyday actions and activities. Because your knee is such an important joint, any discomfort and pain are likely to impact your life. 

Sudden knee pain is likely to be an acute injury like a dislocation or a sprain, while pain that comes on more slowly could be due to a disease like arthritis or a repetitive strain injury.

Elite’s knee pain specialists frequently see patients suffering from pain behind the knee, pain inside the knee, pain on top of the knee cap, and pain in the muscle behind the knee. Injuries may come from everyday activities or high-intensity activities seen in a runner’s knee or jumper’s knee. 

Some of the most common knee injuries include:

• Fractures
• Dislocations
• Strained tendons
• ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears
• MCL (medial collateral ligament) tears
• Meniscus tears 
• Patellar tendinitis (runner’s knee)

If you have an acute knee injury and do not seek treatment, the damaged tissues may not heal properly, leading to chronic knee pain. Another cause of chronic knee pain is a wear-and-tear condition called osteoarthritis.

Your knees are liable to develop osteoarthritis being heavily used in everyday life. Osteoarthritis is the wearing down of articular cartilage on the bones in your joints, leaving them vulnerable to friction, inflammation, and pain.

Certain hip conditions like hip arthritis can actually cause knee pain. If you are experiencing hip and knee pain, the cause may stem from your hip. In this case you should seek help from a knee pain specialist. 

While knee pain can sometimes go away on its own, especially if it’s due to overuse, there are several situations when you’d want to visit a knee pain specialist. If your knee pain has been interfering with your daily life or is getting worse, a knee pain specialist can help you determine what’s going on and develop the best treatment plan. 

Some of the signs indicating you should schedule an appointment include: 

• Inability to bear weight on your knee.
• Limited range of motion.
• Swelling or stiffness.
• Feeling like your knee “gives out” when you are walking.
• Severe pain.

An orthopedic knee pain specialist will be able to offer a treatment plan for your knee pain. These doctors have specialized knowledge and training specifically in the musculoskeletal system, which includes the knees. Whether you are experiencing acute or chronic pain, these specialists are equipped to diagnose any issues and devise a treatment plan to help relieve your pain and restore your mobility.

Some knee pain specialists, like the ones at Elite Sports Medicine + Orthopedics, undergo an additional year of training where they narrow their orthopedic focus to include knee conditions. When you schedule a visit with one of our specialists, you can expect patient-driven, integrative care. 

If you are experiencing knee pain, our team of orthopedic specialists will take the time to perform a thorough physical exam, review your symptoms, and ask about your medical history. 

Here at Elite Sports Medicine + Orthopedics, we use both X-rays and MRI imaging to get a closer look at your bones and soft tissues. Specifically, X-rays will allow us to see if you have any fractures, while an MRI will give us a detailed look at your tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. These tests help us to come up with an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment plan. 

There are several factors that can contribute to knee pain. You can lower your risk factor by:

• Maintaining a healthy weight: Excess weight adds more strain on your joints and increases the chances of osteoarthritis. 
• Increasing your strength and flexibility: Stretching before playing a sport or exercising helps warm up your muscles, increases your flexibility, and decreases your chances of injury. Similarly, strong hamstring and quadricep muscles help strengthen and stabilize your knee joints. 
• Using correct movement patterns: No matter what sport you play, it’s important to maintain the correct form so you don’t injure yourself.
• Changing the way you workout: Avoid movement that puts stress on your knees and high-impact activities like running. Instead try low-impact activities like walking and swimming. 
• Avoiding inflammatory foods: If you have knee arthritis, avoiding certain foods can reduce inflammation in the knee. Try limiting your consumption of processed foods, fried foods, sugar, and alcohol. 

Before developing an appropriate treatment plan, your knee doctor needs to confirm the diagnosis. They combine extensive expertise with cutting-edge onsite diagnostic imaging technology.

Your personalized treatment program could include:

• A knee brace or boot
• Anti-inflammatory medication
• Occupational or physical therapy
• Cortisone injections
• Viscosupplementation injections
• Regenerative medicine
• Radiofrequency ablation

The majority of patients experiencing knee pain find that a combination of these conservative treatments relieves their pain. Our orthopedic knee doctors in Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee may advise bracing, physical therapy, injections, medication, surgery, or other forms of treatment.

If you have an injury like a torn meniscus, you might need meniscal repair surgery to help this piece of cartilage in your knee to heal. Repairing a torn cruciate or collateral ligament typically involves reattaching the severed ends of the ligament using a graft – a piece of tendon from another part of your body or donated tissue.

If your knee pain is due to arthritis, you could benefit from a total knee replacement. This surgery involves removing the damaged surfaces of the bones and replacing them with artificial components.

Wherever possible, Elite’s Nashville knee doctors use minimally invasive arthroscopic techniques to perform knee surgery. An arthroscope is an instrument that fits into your knee through tiny cuts, then sends back images of the surgery site to a monitor for your provider to work from.

If you have acute or chronic knee pain, find out why and get the best treatment for your condition by calling Elite Sports Medicine + Orthopedics or book an appointment online today.