Non-surgical knee care in Mesa for the activities you enjoy

Pickleball soreness often follows stopping and turning

The knee slows your body before every quick change of direction. Tired thigh or hip muscles leave the joint taking more strain. Pickleball can therefore hurt even when straight walking feels fine. Swelling that evening means the game asked too much of the knee.

Try a shorter game and take more rest before playing again. Warm up with easy steps before adding hard turns. Shoes can change knee strain when they grip too much or too little. Stop playing and arrange an exam if the knee buckles or locks.

Downhill walking puts more work on the thigh

During a descent, the thigh muscle slows the body while the knee bends. A weak or sore leg may shake, shorten its step or turn sideways. Poles can share some weight, while a shorter route cuts repeated strain. You shouldn't push through buckling, sharp soreness or a locked knee.

Build downhill control on a low step before choosing a hard trail. Use a rail and move slowly enough to keep the knee straight. Stop before tired muscles change the way you step. Check the knee later and the next morning before adding more.

A clinic visit should use your real activity goal

Tell the clinician whether you want easier stairs, steadier golf or longer walks. The exam can check the motion and strength needed for that activity. Agree on a clear way to judge whether treatment helps. Less soreness matters when it improves your quality of life.

Bring notes showing where the knee hurts and when swelling appears. Mention any old injury, fall, locking or sudden change. Keep activity gentle until the exam if the knee feels unsteady. Specific dates and symptoms keep the visit focused.

The Chandler clinic is the nearby Mesa option

The Chandler location is at 1100 S. Dobson Road, Suite 210. West Mesa can follow Dobson Road south without using a freeway. Central Mesa can take US-60 west to Dobson Road. From east Mesa, US-60 also leads to Dobson Road.

North and northeast Mesa may find Scottsdale shorter. Loop 202 Red Mountain connects with Loop 101 north toward that office. Check the drive from your part of Mesa before leaving. At Chandler, QC Kinetix medical providers offer regenerative treatments such as PRP, made from your spun blood and then placed in your knee.

Sources

1. OARSI 2019 designates arthritis education plus structured land-based exercise (with or without dietary weight management) as CORE treatments for knee OA, and education plus structured land-based exercise as core for hip and polyarticular OA. Topical NSAIDs are strongly recommended for knee OA (Level 1A). Intra-articular corticosteroids and hyaluronic acid are Level 1B/2 for knee OA depending on comorbidity and are NOT recommended for hip or polyarticular OA. Oral NSAIDs are not recommended for people with cardiovascular comorbidity or frailty, and oral and transdermal opioids are strongly not recommended (Level 5).

   Bannuru RR, Osani MC, Vaysbrot EE, et al. — OARSI guidelines for the non-surgical management of knee, hip, and polyarticular osteoarthritis.. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, 2019. DOI: 10.1016/j.joca.2019.06.011.

2. The 2019 ACR/Arthritis Foundation guideline makes STRONG recommendations for exercise, weight loss in people with knee and/or hip OA who are overweight or obese, self-efficacy and self-management programs, tai chi, cane use, tibiofemoral bracing for tibiofemoral knee OA, topical NSAIDs for knee OA, oral NSAIDs, and intra-articular glucocorticoid injections for knee OA. Radiofrequency ablation for knee OA, acupuncture, thermal modalities, acetaminophen, duloxetine and tramadol are only CONDITIONAL recommendations.

   Kolasinski SL, Neogi T, Hochberg MC, et al. — 2019 American College of Rheumatology/Arthritis Foundation Guideline for the Management of Osteoarthritis of the Hand, Hip, and Knee.. Arthritis & Rheumatology, 2020. DOI: 10.1002/art.41142.

3. In the only randomised controlled trial to compare total knee replacement directly with non-surgical treatment in patients already eligible for surgery (n=100), the replacement group improved more at 12 months than the non-surgical group (KOOS4 32.5 vs 16.0; adjusted mean difference 15.8, 95% CI 10.0 to 21.5) but had four times the serious adverse events (24 vs 6, P=0.005). Only 13 of 50 patients (26%) assigned to non-surgical treatment alone had undergone knee replacement by 12 months.

   Skou ST, Roos EM, Laursen MB, et al. — A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Total Knee Replacement.. New England Journal of Medicine, 2015. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1505467.