A Good Non-Surgical, Non-Steroid Treatment for Knee Pain

March 30, 2020

Chronic knee pain that interferes with daily life and functioning is a common problem. Chronic knee pain can be from either progressing osteoarthritis (OA) or from nerve pain. Nerve pain (neuropathic pain) can arise from previous surgeries (including total knee replacement) or previous knee injuries.

Conservative therapy with medications and physical therapy may help for a period or for mild cases but for some patients those treatments do not offer enough relief. Steroid injection can also offer relief but carrier their own risks. Surgery, such as joint replacement, can be an effective treatment for OA; however, not everyone qualifies for surgery, or they have already had a joint replacement and still have pain. So, what other options are there?

Genicular nerve injections with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an alternative therapy that has gained wide acceptance for the treatment of chronic knee pain. It is covered by most insurances including Medicare and we offer it to our patients here at Specialist in Pain Care.

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The genicular nerves are small sensory nerves around the knee. Test injections are initially performed where the genicular nerves are temporarily blocked with a local anesthetic under xray guidance. If the patient experiences a reduction in pain from the test injections, they become a candidate for the RFA procedure. The genicular RFA procedure will gently “burn” the nerves with patients reporting relief for up to 9 months in duration. During this time, the knee pain is greatly reduced, and the patient is less reliant on pain medications and have improved function and ability to move and exercise. The procedure does not cause any muscle weakness and eventually the nerves regenerate.

When evaluating patients for their knee pain we always start with the easiest, least invasive but effective treatments. We would be happy to evaluate your patient with knee pain and see what treatment options are best for them and their treatment goals.

Link to a reference on Genicular Nerve RFA.

The Specialists in Pain Care Team!