What Doctor Should I See for Knee Pain? Medical Center Answers
What Doctor Should I See for Knee Pain?
Do you have swelling and stiffness in your knees? Is the knee pain accompanied by a general sensation of weakness or instability? Can you hear some popping sounds in your knees when you walk? These are all signs and symptoms of knee pain and it’s an indication that you should probably see a knee pain doctor soon.
Knee pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal issues that affects all kinds of people in the world. You experience when some part of your knee joint, be it your muscles, tendons, ligaments, or bones, get fractured, injured, or develop other diseases. Knee pain may be acute if it’s caused by knee injuries. However, in some cases, knee pain can also be chronic, which means that it will only get worse with time.
If you experience extreme knee pain or fever, it’s possible you’re suffering from chronic knee pain caused by issues like osteoarthritis, pаtеllоfеmоrаl раіn syndrome, раtеllаr tеndоn, knee bursitis, iliotibial band syndrome, or chondromalacia patella. If you’re suffering from any of these issues, it’s vital that you visit a good knee pain doctor.
Furthermore, it’s important to visit the right knee pain doctor. Some doctors will simply prescribe opioids that will provide temporary relief but won’t actually cure the problem. Some doctors will jump straight to surgeries, which can be dangerous. It’s necessary to find a good knee pain doctor who can diagnose the root cause of knee pain and treat it specifically.
You might be wondering “what doctor should I see for knee pain.” In this article, we discuss the qualities of a good knee pain doctor.
Types of Knee Pain Doctors
Knee pain doctors can come from various different fields of medicine such as anesthesiologists, physiatrists, neurosurgeons, podiatrists, neurologists, primary care physicians, or orthopedic surgeons.
However, broadly speaking, if you are wondering what kind of doctor for knee pain exists, there are three knee pain specialists — palliative care specialists, interventional pain and spine specialists, and chronic pain specialists.
- Palliative Care Specialists: These pain doctors deal with chronic pain that may be caused by underlying diseases like cancer. They mostly deal with psychological and emotional support so they’re not perfectly suitable to actually treat the physical pain.
- Chronic Pain Specialists: These pain doctors mostly deal with opioid management. They prescribe painkillers and narcotics to temporarily relieve the pain. This doesn’t treat the root cause of pain and knee pain will simply come back later once the drugs wear off. These drugs are also highly addictive and can lead to opium addiction. That’s why you should avoid doctors who prescribe opioids at all cost.
- Interventional Pain Specialists: These pain doctors are specially trained to identify and diagnose the root cause of pain and treat it permanently. These pain doctors use minimally invasive and non-surgical procedures that have a negligible risk of side effects and they provide long term relief from pain rather than a temporary solution. So if you are wondering about who to see for knee pain then Interventional Pain Specialists is the answer.
As you can see, there are a lot of options when it comes to what doctor to see for knee pain. But you should look for interventional pain specialists because they’re the only ones who can truly diagnose the root cause of your knee pain and provide long-term relief. An interventional pain specialist will use imaging tests like X-Rays, CT scans, and MRIs to determine the root cause of knee pain.
Other Qualities to Look for in a Knee Pain Doctor
So now you know that you should only look for interventional knee pain specialists to treat a knee injury. The following factors will help you further narrow down exactly which doctor you should see for knee pain.
Board Certification and Strong Educational Background
Consider the doctor’s board certification. The best knee pain doctors are board-certified in the field of pain management. This denotes that they’ve gone through advanced residencies and fellowships, which makes them far more experienced than regular knee pain doctors. You should also consider the knee pain doctor’s education background and go for doctors who have graduated from Ivy League universities or those of equivalent stature.
Track Record
You should also consider the knee pain doctor’s track record. The knee pain doctor should have a flawless track record with all of their patients and there should be no disciplinary actions or malpractice claims filed against them.
Focus on Minimally Invasive Knee Pain Treatments
Finally, it’s important that your knee pain doctor focuses primarily on minimally invasive treatments rather than complex surgeries or narcotics. Some of the best knee pain treatments include steroid injections, viscosupplementation, genicular nerve block, and genicular nerve radiofrequency ablation. These are all minimally invasive treatments with a negligible risk of side effects and they can provide long term relief from the actual root cause of knee pain.
Schedule an Appointment with your Doctor
Pain Treatment Specialists has some of the best knee doctors in the country. Our knee pain doctors — Dr. George Hanna and Dr. Michael Nguyen — are board-certified interventional pain specialists who have graduated from Ivy League universities. They diagnose the root cause of your knee pain using X-Rays, CT Scans, and MRIs and then they treat it using the latest minimally invasive knee pain treatments. For more information, please schedule an appointment with your doctor today.