Nonsurgical treatment options for knee pain

If chronic knee pain and discomfort are taking you away from your daily tasks and impacting your quality of life, it’s time to see your doctor.

Your first step towards better movement requires comprehensive care and a care team that will see you through your journey from consult to treatment to rehabilitation. Our wide range of care options, services and support resources ensure that you will get the best treatment plan personalized for you. Our board-certified team of doctors, compassionate nurses and advanced health practitioners, physical therapists and nutritionists can help get you back to doing the things you love.

Nonsurgical knee pain treatment

Surgery is often not the first option for treating knee pain, and many patients can manage their pain without invasive treatment. Depending on your diagnosis, changes to your lifestyle may be the best option for you. Every patient is different, and your care team will design a treatment plan to fit your needs that could include:

• Activity modifications: If certain exercises are causing your knee pain to flare up, our doctors and physical therapists can create a personalized, low-impact exercise routine to help avoid discomfort while keeping you active.
• Physical therapy: Physical therapy is a common treatment option for knee pain. Our physical therapists work with you to create a custom therapy plan based on your daily routine and mobility needs to help strengthen your knee and reduce pain.
• Alternative medicine: In some cases, alternative medicine treatments, like chiropractic medicine, acupuncture or osteopathic manipulative medicine may be an appropriate option to treat your knee pain.
• Canes, walkers and other assistive devices: Our specialists will work with you to identify assistive devices such as braces, sleeves and canes to help take pressure off your knee.
• Weight loss: To relieve pressure on your knee joint, we may recommend weight loss. Northbay Health nutritionists are available to help establish a program that fits your specific dietary needs and goals.
• Medicine: Over-the-counter prescription medications and some supplements may help manage your pain. Our team can guide you through selecting the best medication options for you.
• Injections: Steroid shots and lubricating injections (viscosupplementation) can help increase mobility and reduce pain. We also offer platelet-rich plasma injections (PRP) for knee arthritis.

We often recommend a combination of treatments to offer personalized and effective care that is customized to you and your health goals.

Surgical knee pain treatment

If nonsurgical options are not managing your pain or you have extensive damage to your knee, we may recommend joint replacement surgery.

Your care team will be with you from scheduling to rehabilitation, and we offer minimally invasive techniques to reduce recovery time and get you home faster when possible.

Learn more about our surgical knee pain treatments