You may revel in your ability to take your dog on a long walk, play a game of tennis, or even do everyday things like climb the stairs and get in and out of a chair.
Well, maybe you don’t really take joy in these abilities — until you have trouble with them because of knee pain and mobility issues. Often, it’s when you suddenly can’t do something that you learn you’ve taken it for granted.
Knee pain stems from injuries, the simple wear-and-tear that occurs as you get older, and repetitive stress. Physical therapy is a must for hastening your healing and bringing you back to enjoying the level of activity you used to know.
Billy Reilly, MS, PT, and Paul LaRosa, MS, PT, lead our impressive team at Empire Physical Therapy & Athletic Rehabilitation, and their combined years of invaluable experience and caring approach to our patients is unequaled.
There’s no question that when you seek treatment at Empire, you’re in the very best hands.
First, a bit about the knee itself. Your knee is your body’s largest joint, and it connects your thighbone (femur), shinbone (tibia), your knee’s outer side (fibular), and kneecap. It also has:
As we noted, there are several major causes of knee pain, but all impair your quality of life.
You might be suffering because of an injury you sustained playing sport or working at a job that requires you to bend your knees repeatedly or lift heavy objects — like when you work in construction or in a warehouse — or you may have developed arthritis over decades.
When you see us about knee pain, we want to know more about it. Is it sharp or dull? Does it affect your entire knee or just a portion of it? How long has it been going on? Can you trace it to a movement you made recently, or has it been more of a slow burn?
This information helps us discover whether your knee pain stems from some type of trauma, such as a ruptured ligament or bone fracture, wear-and-tear over time due to arthritis, a specific condition like gout (a type of arthritis), or repetitive stress. Knee pain can even be traced to an infection of some sort.
Then we take a detailed inventory of your symptoms, which may include:
We also note how knee pain affects your movement. Is it changing the way you walk, limiting activities like using the stairs or walking longer distances, or making you unable to put weight on your knee? You might also have pain when you’re doing nothing and are perfectly still.
Fortunately, we have a wide range of treatments we can provide to ease and eliminate your knee pain and get you back to moving freely and comfortably again.
We may recommend a combination of passive treatments, like manual physical therapy, ice or heat therapy, or electrophysiological stimulation, as well as active approaches like stretching or exercise therapy, which you can do easily at Empire, thanks to our on-site, state-of-the-art gym space.
We may also assign you exercises that you can do at home to improve your knee strength and flexibility.
Before you receive any treatment, we may also recommend a Functional Movement Screen™ , a test that gives us crucial information about your movement patterns and how they may be putting you at increased risk for injury.
We can help you get to the origin of your knee pain, no matter what its cause. Once we establish that, we can craft a personalized treatment plan for your recovery. Prepare to walk, run, jump, and climb with ease and comfort again, without having to worry about wincing with each and every movement.
Call our convenient Midtown East office in Manhattan, New York, at 607-602-1330 to schedule an appointment. For your convenience, we offer early morning and evening hours.
