Knee pain

Knee pain – when the largest joint in the body sends out alarm signals

Many people complain repeatedly or even permanently about knee pain. This is hardly surprising, as the knee joint is the largest joint in the human body. Day after day, it is subjected to enormous strain, which can lead to signs of wear and tear in the long term. As a result, knee pain often occurs in connection with permanent incorrect loading, overweight, age-related cartilage wear in the knee joint or intensive sporting activities. Unyielding muscles and adhered fascia also ensure that the cartilage in the knee joints is severely compressed and becomes increasingly worn.

Due to its complicated structure and great mobility, the knee is also highly susceptible to injury. It is a finely tuned apparatus of ligaments, tendons and muscles that have to stabilize the large knee joint. Athletes can tell you a thing or two about what can go wrong.

The brain sends us pain to prevent further damage to the cartilage and the knee joint. That’s why every pain prompts us not to carry on as before.

Precise diagnostics – not all knee pain is the same

In orthopaedics and as your orthopaedist in Münster, we generally differentiate between four different types of knee pain depending on the location: in the front of the knee, on the inside or outside of the knee and in the knee joint itself. The location of the knee pain already gives us valuable information about the possible causes.

As part of a precise, cause-oriented diagnosis, we also find out exactly when your knee pain occurred or started: For example, did the knee pain occur after an accident or injury? In most cases, knee pain is also associated with certain movement sequences. The quality of the pain is also a good indication for the diagnosis: Is the pain dull, pressing, stabbing and deep-seated? Is the knee pain only temporary, permanent or can it even be “run away”?

Risk factors for knee pain:

  • Overweight
  • Weak leg muscles
  • Sports that put a lot of strain on the knees, e.g. skiing, jogging, squash, etc.
  • Incorrect footwear, especially during training
  • Malpositions, such as knock knees or bow legs

Knee pain – what to do?
Knee pain is primarily treated using conservative methods. Depending on the cause of the knee pain, various therapeutic measures can be considered:

In the event of acute knee pain, the knee joint should be relieved, immobilized and elevated. Cooling compresses or cuffs can relieve swelling. Compression bandages and special knee supports can also support the regeneration process and help to protect the knee joint.

In the case of chronic knee pain, anti-inflammatory medication can be injected sterilely into the joint if indicated. Once the symptoms have subsided, we recommend physiotherapy in many cases, physiotherapy or isokinetic training to strengthen the knee.

Forms of therapy

In most cases, several forms of treatment are required to eliminate knee pain in the long term. In the first step, targeted pain relief is usually important, also to avoid a relieving posture. This is because if the painful knee is spared for a long period of time, the other knee will be overloaded. This can lead to a vicious circle of pain and incorrect strain.

The following measures are generally available for the treatment of knee pain:

  • Physical therapy (cold or heat) and compression therapy with dressings and bandages …
  • Drug treatment (e.g. pain gel for local pain treatment)
  • Physiotherapy (e.g. manual therapy, lymphatic drainage, etc.)
  • Surgical measures (e.g. knee surgery for fresh cruciate ligament rupture, meniscus tear)
  • Injection treatment to reduce inflammation and “lubricate” or promote regeneration

For acute knee pain:
Once the symptoms have subsided, we often practice

  • physical measures,
  • Physiotherapy or
  • isokinetic training as part of the following training therapy.

Pain in your knee? We lend a hand!

As an experienced orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Ulrich Frohberger can manually track down problems that are not revealed by X-ray, computer tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or sonography (ultrasound) and for which the usual painkillers or injections would be unsuccessful.

Knee pain in the “tube” and the injection afterwards?
Not with us!

Instead of the image in the doctor’s head, which is created by feeling, many doctors now only trust imaging procedures. All too often, even in cases of severe pain, the diagnosis is: “You have nothing wrong. Everything is fine in your knee!” What remains is the usual injection into the knee.

As a sports physician with decades of experience in professional sport, Dr. Ulrich Frohberger, an orthopaedic surgeon in Münster, deliberately chooses to start with a manual examination – to feel and palpate functional disorders and possibly treat them with his hands. This examination requires time, concentration and, in the truest sense of the word, sensitivity in order to empathize with the structures of the knee. These are qualities that are increasingly being lost in modern medical equipment.

Do you suffer from knee pain?
Book your appointment now at Z.O.R. am Roggenmarkt online or by phone
on 0251 603-23 or 20251 603-24.