Put one foot in front of the other, the song goes, and soon you’ll be “walking ’cross the floor.” It seems simple, yet the act of moving your body forward requires a complex set of muscles, joints, and bones to work in a precise fashion so that you can get from point A to point B. For millions of American, this movement is extremely difficult and painful, the result of wear and tear or an acute injury to the body’s largest joint – the knee.
The most common reason for visiting an orthopedic surgeon in the US is for knee pain. In fact, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, more than 19 million visits to physicians’ offices in 2003 were for treatment of knee pain.
Fortunately, the options for treating these patients continues to grow, and today the chances of improving mobility – and the feeling of better overall health that comes with it – are increasing.
According to Lawrence Li, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at OSMC, knee problems can have many underlying causes. Once the problem is diagnosed, different treatment options can be offered, including exercise and or physical therapy, drug therapy, and injections into the joint. Surgery may be required in some cases, or when a non-surgical treatment does not provide the expected result.
Dr. Li frequently performs knee surgery using an arthroscope, which allows him to get an up-close look at the inside of the knee through a small incision. Small surgical instruments can be used with the arthroscope to repair damage that may be been caused by worn cartilage, for example. Two of Dr. Li’s colleagues at OSMC, David Dodgin, MD, and Edward Kolb, MD, have developed special expertise in hip replacement surgery that results in quicker recovery times and can be beneficial to many patients needing hip replacement surgery.
In conventional hip replacement, most patients are limited in their ability to move their hip for six to eight weeks after surgery. An important component to treatment of knee problems is exercise. OSMC’s physical therapy department provides therapeutic exercise and functional training that help patients strengthen their bodies and improve their mobility – before, after, and sometimes instead of, surgery.
New treatment options for knee pain have come at the right time – a highly active, and competitive, high-school and college athletic population, a workforce increasingly being asked to increase productivity, and a growing number of healthy, active older Americans who have been using their knees for 50-plus years, are all at risk for developing a knee problem that will result in their need to see an orthopedic surgeon.
More information about knee problems and treatment is available at Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center’s website, www.osmcweb.com, or by calling 217-355-1616.