Whether you’re prepping for a marathon, taking a stroll through the neighborhood, or relaxing on the couch, knee pain can make it impossible to accomplish your daily goals.
Dr. Teddrick Dunson is pain management and regenerative medicine specialist with extensive practice, Thrive Pain Management, in Irving, Texas. He’s well-known and much respected for providing a full range of highly effective, nonsurgical treatments for chronic conditions such as knee pain.
Find out how this top-rated expert uses injections to relieve knee pain and get you moving comfortably again.
Understanding knee pain
A complex series of bone, cartilage, ligaments, and other soft tissue structures make up the knees. These structures come together to form the largest and strongest joints in the human body. Unfortunately, because of the high demand life places on your knees, they’re also prone to damage and disease that can cause debilitating pain.
Arthritis is one of the most common underlying causes of chronic knee pain that may be accompanied by:
- Swelling and redness surrounding the joint
- Sensation of instability or weakness
- Popping or crunching sensation with even slight movements
- Difficulty fully straightening or bending the knee
- Advancing stiffness that’s often worse after periods of inactivity
- Increasing pain with walking, standing or sitting
Osteoarthritis (OA) or “wear-and-tear” arthritis related to aging and/or overuse is by far the most common arthritic condition related to knee pain. Still, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a close second.
How arthritis affects your knees
The effects of arthritis on your knee joints varies by type:
Osteoarthritis
OA causes degenerative changes to the cartilage in your knees. This tough tissue also serves as a protective covering for the bones that come together to form your knee joint. Moreover, a fluid-filled membrane (synovial membrane) covers the cartilage. It has the consistency of egg whites and keeps the cartilage slick and smooth so that the bones of the knees move freely.
Besides aging, overuse during sports activities, etc. can cause the cartilage to wear away or “degenerate.” This event leads to increased pain and loss of mobility as bone begins to rub against bone. OA typically develops slowly over time and worsens as the disease progresses.
Rheumatoid arthritis
RA is an autoimmune disorder that causes your body’s immune system to mistake your body’s tissue for a toxic invader. This response causes it to attack and destroy cartilage, ligament, bone, and other tissue structures in your knee joint.
How do knee injections help with knee pain?
Dr. Dunson offers knee injections that target knee joint damage and pain in different ways.
Corticosteroid knee injection
This injection delivers medication that reduces the swelling and inflammation associated with the degeneration of joint tissue, which reduces and may even eliminate your pain. Also, the injection may also contain an anesthetic, such as lidocaine, that provides instant pain relief.
Viscosupplementation
This therapy delivers a synthetic form of hyaluronic acid, a gel-like substance your body produces naturally. It improves lubrication within the joint, reduces inflammation, and relieves pain.
Regenerative medicine injections
Injections containing regenerative medicine therapies like platelet-rich plasma (PRP), stem cells, and exosomes treat knee pain. This procedure reduces inflammation and stimulates your body’s natural ability to regenerate new and/or repair damaged tissue within your knee joint.
Don’t let knee pain interfere with your daily goals. Schedule a visit with Dr. Dunson at Thrive Pain Management today. We specialize in highly effective, medically sound, nonsurgical treatments that relieve your pain and get you moving again.
