Do you have pain in your hips or knees when trying to enjoy leisurely walks, climbing stairs, or bending down to retrieve a dropped item? Hip and knee pain can limit your ability to perform and enjoy daily activities.
Fortunately, at IMG Physical Therapy, our therapists can teach you how to find relief and get back to doing what you love!
Your hips are ball and socket joints, meaning that your femur (thigh bone) fits perfectly into your pelvis (hip socket). There is a cushion of cartilage in your hips that helps prevent friction as your hip bone moves within the socket.
The knee joint is also one of the most complicated joints in the body, as it has to bear up to 6 times your body weight when running or jumping. This incredible joint is vital for walking, stairs, and bending or kneeling movements. This is also why things can go wrong, resulting in injury and pain.
Pain ensues if the cartilage wears down or is damaged due to age or injury. It is also possible for the muscles and tendons surrounding the hip and knee to experience pain from overuse or trauma. No matter the source of pain, we offer solutions to help you resume your normal activities.
If your hip or knee pain limits you from living the life you want, don’t hesitate to contact IMG Physical Therapy as soon as possible. We’ll help you get moving freely once again!
What Causes Hip and Knee Pain?
There are many reasons why you may be experiencing hip or knee pain. Some of the most common causes include:
Arthritis. Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are the most common causes of hip and knee pain. Arthritis causes inflammation of the joints and can lead to a quicker breakdown of cartilage in the hips. This can lead to pain or stiffness with movement.
Tears and ruptures. There are ligaments and cartilage in the hips and knees that are susceptible to injury, including tearing. Tears to ligaments leave the joints unstable, while cartilage tears typically affect your range of motion. Most tears result from some trauma or sports-related accident.
Bursitis. Bursae are liquid sacs that can be found between tissues. They help ease friction from tissues running together; however, they can also become inflamed due to overuse and trauma, resulting in pain. So, if you feel achy after walking too far, it may be your body’s way of telling you you’ve done too much!
Strains and Tendonitis. Muscles or tendons can become strained and/or inflamed due to overuse and repeated activity. This causes inflammation and fraying of the tissue, resulting in pain.
Although it is less common, fractures and dislocations are possible due to accidents or diseases such as cancer. This is something to keep in mind as you participate in physically demanding activities and hobbies. If you are experiencing pain from a recent slip or fall, you may be feeling the symptoms of a fracture or even a dislocation.
How Physical Therapy Can Help Hip and Knee Pain
Our physical therapists are movement experts! We will start with an injury evaluation and a biomechanical assessment to identify all the factors that may be contributing to your pain.
This will consist of a thorough history to understand more about the training schedule, the demands on the body, and the athlete’s overall health status.
We will use this information to develop a comprehensive program that includes targeted manual techniques, mobility work, strengthening, and any appropriate pain relief technique for the best possible outcome.
Rehabilitation should start immediately following most injuries to ensure the fastest recovery possible. Our physical therapists will determine the injury’s severity and identify any other weaknesses or limitations that may affect the athlete’s recovery, stability, or strength.
Physical therapy will provide the foundation for success while reducing future injuries!
Contact Us To Schedule An Appointment
At IMG Physical Therapy, we can provide you with a joint analysis to determine any problem areas in the hip or knee joints and treat them accordingly. Any problems that are discovered early ensure that your joints are working at their peak performance.
Call today to schedule a consultation with one of our expert physical therapists and discover how you can live life with freely moving joints!
Hello all,
I hope everyone is having a great fall season. I know that I always look forward to the fall and the cooler temperatures and the changing leaves. My kids of course are looking forward to the end of October and trick-or-treating. As many of you may or may not know a big trend for younger kids is the Axolotl. What is an Axolotl you might ask? An Axolotl is a cute looking salamander. For some reason they have gained a lot of popularity as cute plush toys as well as any other thing you can think of including hats, T-shirts, and anything else you can put the image of an Axolotl on. My youngest daughter will be dressing up as this cute little creature for Halloween. She is very excited about this, and needless to say has all of the things she would need to look like this adorable little salamander.
Maybe some of you are feeling more like a zombie than a free moving flexible salamander. Perhaps your hip and knee joints are aching making you move more like the walking dead than like a human. A few things to know about hip pain is that true hip pain comes from the groin region. It is a common mistake to think that hip pain is actually on the outside of the hip, but there is no joint there. Sometimes pain that goes down the outside of the leg/hip region is actually coming from the back. Knee pain can also have some contribution from back issues as well, and needs to be looked at closely to determine if some back exercises and treatment might be beneficial to help irritated knees. If the nerves are being pressed from the back it can cause weakness into the legs affecting function of the knees as well as stability in the knees causing increased pain and irritation.
The good news is that the IMG PT family is trained in evaluation techniques of the hip and the knee as well as pelvic alignment and low back treatments. With a thorough evaluation and individualized treatment program we can help relieve hip and knee pain as well as get to the underlying cause of it and have you feeling more like a human and less like the walking dead. Give us a call today to set up your free consultation to have your hip pain or knee pain evaluated by one of our trained physical therapists. We look forward to hearing from you soon and have a great fall season.
Patient Spotlight
“Friendly and knowledgeable staff who helped me recover from meniscus surgery. The thing that impressed me most was that it genuinely felt like everyone on the staff cared about the patients on a personal level. They’ve built a family culture where you’re actually a little sad to be fully recovered and finished with therapy. If I ever need PT in the future, I’ll definitely be back with Chris, Eric, and company!” —Drew T.
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Exercise of the Month
Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch
Start on one knee with the leg you want to stretch in front. Place your hands on your hips and slowly push your hips forward and lean back. Squeeze your butt. Feel the stretch in the front of your back leg’s hip. Hold for 30 seconds and repeat with other leg.
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