A knee is caught between a hip and a foot, and it does what those two allow. When the glutes are not controlling the thigh, the kneecap tracks badly and the joint takes load at an angle it was not designed for. The pain appears at the knee; the cause frequently sits above it.
The low back refers into the knee as well, which is why an examination that only looks at the knee misses a share of cases. Part of the first appointment is testing the hip and the back before deciding the knee is the problem.
Osteoarthritis, patellar tracking problems and knees that never fully recovered from an old injury account for most of what walks through the door. They feel different. Arthritis is stiff first thing and after sitting; a tracking problem hurts on stairs and getting out of a chair; a post-injury knee gives way or swells after activity.
Denver adds its own version — the knee that is fine all winter and complains every spring when the hiking starts again without the strength that used to be there.
A joint injection is used where the examination points at the joint itself rather than the muscles around it. For the Denver metro it is performed in office at any of our Denver-area clinics.
Joint changes are common in people with no pain at all, so a scan showing wear does not by itself explain a painful knee. How a joint feels depends as much on the muscles around it and how it is being loaded.
Imaging is ordered when the examination raises a question the plan depends on — a suspected meniscal or ligament injury, or a joint being considered for a procedure. Bring anything you already have.
The metro is covered from Downtown Denver, Lowry, Central Park, Northglenn, Lakewood, Littleton, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, SE Aurora and Southlands.
Most major commercial plans are accepted and most Medicare Advantage plans are in network in Colorado. Benefits are verified before the first visit. No referral is needed and appointments are usually available within the same week.
The wider knee pain page covers the rest, as do Pain Management in Denver and Chiropractic care in Denver.
Every clinic below has Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Acupuncture and Pain Management on one chart, so care can move between them without a new referral.
Downtown out through the north, west, south and east suburbs.
Academy, InterQuest and Tenderfoot cover the north, central and south of the city.
Harmony in Fort Collins and our Greeley clinic serve Larimer and Weld counties.
Across the Valley, from the West Valley through Phoenix to the East Valley.
Yes, often. The hip and the low back both refer into the knee, which is why the examination looks above the knee as well as at it.
No. Bring any imaging you have. Whether more is needed is one of the things the examination decides.
Not necessarily. Joint changes are common in people with no pain, and how a knee feels depends heavily on the muscles around it and how it is loaded.
Stairs load the kneecap against the thigh bone at the angle a tracking problem is worst at. It is one of the more telling symptoms.
Physical Therapy to restore quadriceps and glute control. Chiropractic care where the hip or back is contributing, and Acupuncture where pain is blocking the work.
Where the examination points at the joint itself rather than the muscles around it.
Usually because the strength that carried it has dropped over the winter and the first big hikes arrive before it has come back.
Most major commercial plans are accepted and most Medicare Advantage plans are in network in Colorado. Benefits are checked before the first visit.
Mountain View Pain Center treats knee pain across the Denver metro, with Pain Management, Physical Therapy, Chiropractic and Acupuncture in the same clinic and on the same chart.
