Knee problems are very common and they can affect people throughout their lives from childhood or teenage years right through to their later years. Causes of knee problems are extremely varied and can be related to sports injuries, such as cruciate ligament rupture, cartilage tears, and eventually to advancing osteoarthritis, which can lead to significant pain and disability in the later years.
Fortunately, there is a whole range of modern treatments for all these conditions that can really help improve the quality of life and alleviate symptoms in many people. Before considering surgery, a lot of these conditions can be managed very effectively with conservative measures. These measures can be as simple as a low-impact exercise, weight loss, simple analgesics or even wearing appropriate footwear.
After this then physiotherapy can be helpful and subsequently even joint injections to alleviate symptoms to put off the need for surgical intervention. With this range of conservative treatments, many people can avoid surgery altogether. If patients have undergone the range of conservative measures to help alleviate their symptoms and that these measures have failed, then there are a number of modern surgical treatments that can help. This may range from simple keyhole surgery to ligament reconstruction or even eventually a knee replacement surgery for painful arthritic joints.
We shouldn’t underestimate whether they need surgery or not, the importance of appropriate rehabilitation. This can often be done under the supervision of a good physiotherapist, but many of these exercises can be undertaken by the patient themselves with appropriate guidance.
The aim of all our treatment modalities, whether it’s conservative or indeed surgical, is to allow people to return to very good levels of function in a pain-free way that they can enjoy a full and active lifestyle.