Orthopedic Knee Specialists in Tucson, Arizona

Physiotherapy

At Pima Ortho, our multidisciplinary team of specialists is dedicated to providing personalized treatment approaches to prolong the health of your joints. Our goal is to provide all available knee joint preservation options to patients with knee injuries and other conditions causing knee pain and degeneration. We offer innovative and effective knee preservation treatment to treat your symptoms, as well as to restore and preserve joint function so that you can get back to the things you love the most.

Common Causes of Knee Pain

Your knee joint is the articulation formed between three bones: the thigh bone (femur), the shin bone (tibia) of the lower leg and the kneecap (patella). For the knee to function properly, all the components of the knee joint (including bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage and synovial membrane) must work together correctly.

Knee pain is a very common and highly debilitating condition, limiting your daily activities and making even simple tasks challenging. Common causes of knee pain include injuries to knee ligaments, as well as cartilage tears, tendonitis and arthritis (including osteoarthritis, post-traumatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis of the knee joint).

Knee Preservation Treatment

The goal of knee joint preservation treatment is to relieve joint pain and underlying problems and to preserve the knee joint as naturally as possible. Importantly, early diagnosis and knee preservation treatment can help to delay or even eliminate the need for total knee replacement. Pima Ortho offers a range of effective knee joint preservation procedures to treat knee joint problems without requiring knee replacement surgery. The choice of knee preservation treatment is based on several important factors, including the patient’s age, overall health and medical history, as well as the type and extent of the knee injury and underlying conditions.

Diagnostic Testing

If you are experiencing knee joint pain, it is important to seek medical attention. To diagnose the cause of your knee pain, our team of orthopedic specialists at Pima Ortho employs state-of-the-art diagnostic techniques, including 3D imaging and advanced MRI scans. Your assessment will also include a comprehensive physical and radiological examination to establish an accurate diagnosis and create the optimal treatment plan tailored to your unique requirements.

Knee Arthroscopy

Knee preservation arthroscopy involves minimally invasive surgical treatments performed on the knee to repair damage and preserve the joint, as well as to prevent or delay the onset of osteoarthritis. Orthopedic knee arthroscopy can be used to remove damaged tissues, such as cartilage fragments, as well as to smooth the joint’s cartilage surfaces. Moreover, arthroscopy can be used to treat ligament and meniscal tears, as well as to perform cartilage regeneration procedures. Knee arthroscopy can improve joint mobility and function, resulting in reduced pain and improved knee function.

Your doctor can decide whether knee preservation arthroscopy is right for you based on a number of important factors, including your medical condition, your current health, as well as the extent and location of your injury.

Non-Surgical Knee Preservation Options

In some cases, non-surgical options can be effective in successfully treating knee pain and preserving the knee joint structure and function. Pima Ortho offers the following knee joint preservation options:

•Physiotherapy

Often, knee injuries and degenerative changes result in muscular weakness and instability, which can limit your mobility and daily activities. Structured physiotherapy can help to relieve some of the symptoms of early knee arthritis, as well as treat knee conditions such as ligament and meniscal injury. Physiotherapy can serve as an important part of knee preservation treatment, helping to reduce pain and improve knee joint function by strengthening specific muscles and improving gait.

• Specialized Bracing

An orthopedic knee brace is a support worn on the knee to increase joint stability and to correct any alignment problems, while decreasing knee pain and improving function. Using a specialized knee brace can help to provide relief from symptoms of knee osteoarthritis by offloading pressure from your knee joint and facilitating movement, while supporting the tissues around the knee. Moreover, orthopedic knee bracing is most effective when used in combination with physiotherapy and other treatments.

• Hyaluronic Acid (HA) Injections

In osteoarthritis of the knee, in addition to the deterioration of the knee cartilage, the synovial fluid in the knee joint loses its ability to lubricate the joint. This results in increased friction within the joint, leading to pain, stiffness, reduced joint motion and inflammation. Visco supplementation is an innovative, FDA-approved therapy that involves injecting a fluid called hyaluronic acid into the knee joint to improve the lubricating properties of the joint’s synovial fluid. This procedure can be effective in reducing pain from osteoarthritis of the knee, as well as in improving knee mobility.

• Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Injections

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) supplementation is a novel, FDA-approved treatment for managing mild to moderate osteoarthritis, musculoskeletal injuries and other types of joint pain. Platelets are blood cells that play an important role in promoting the body’s natural healing processes. They contain bioactive proteins and growth factors that promote healing from injuries and reduce inflammation, helping damaged tissues to repair themselves and also supporting the formation of new cells.

As part of the PRP supplementation procedure, your doctor will draw a sample of your blood and separate your platelets from other blood cells using a centrifuge. Then, the purified platelets and blood plasma (which constitute PRP) will be injected into the joint space of the knee.

You can also learn about our biologic and regenerative treatments for knee osteoarthritis by clicking here.