If you’re suffering from knee pain, the last thing you want to hear is that there is no easy fix. You want an answer, and you want it now. Perhaps your doctor hasn’t yet identified what’s causing your knee pain and led to more serious health problems like arthritis or another form of arthritis.
Or maybe there is no simple solution for you, but if joint replacement surgery can help restore your mobility, then that sounds like a good option for now. If all else fails, alternative therapies such as acupuncture might be worth considering if they work in conjunction with other treatments.
Reasons Why you should go to an Orthopedic doctor
The doctor will first observe the position of your kneecap and try to see if there is any visible misalignment or if it is painful when pushed around. They’ll check for tenderness in the area where muscles attach and might even inject some local anesthesia into you (it stings for a moment but then goes numb).
But, if there is some reason to suspect a more serious problem, an orthopedist may take the knee and move it parts of your body to check for any other serious issues. I know what you’re thinking – isn’t this just a case of “the knee doesn’t hurt usually, but when I push down on it, it hurts?”
But before you do anything, check out these 4 reasons why you should go to an orthopedic doctor for knee pain instead of going to a general medical doctor.
1. Orthopedic doctors are knee specialists
Unlike a general medical doctor, an orthopedic doctor’s sole focus is on your knee (and every other body part in your legs and lower body) and will be knowledgeable about accidents and diseases that could affect it. If you have a general medical doctor who isn’t qualified to treat knees (yes, you can see both kinds of doctors), skip ahead to number 2!
2. Orthopedics knows about specific injuries affecting knees
Even if you don’t have any injuries, an orthopedic may be able to spot signs of subtle injury after looking at the structure of your knee. It’s not uncommon for doctors to discover early on that a patient has a knee problem, even before they had any pain.
Knees are one of the most common causes of joint replacements – with end-stage arthritis causing more than 75% of total knee replacements. Although this means that your orthopedic doctor knows how to deal with joint replacements, it also means that he or she will be able to spot things other specialists don’t know so that you can get some relief sooner!
3. Orthopedic doctors are great at diagnosing serious knee problems
It is crucial because this will make you feel better as soon as possible and help prevent major problems in the future. Many things could cause knee pain, and orthopedic doctors can quickly rule out some of the more likely possibilities.
Orthopedics is all about observation, even more than most other medical fields when it comes to diagnosing. A general doctor will check blood work and perform various tests (like imaging) to better understand what’s going on inside your body.
But an orthopedic doctor will look at x-rays, MRIs, and bone scans to see every component of your knee in three-dimensional space and determine based on what he or she is seeing. The diagnosis will be much better if the orthopedic doctor can see what’s going on instead of relying on blood work and imaging data.
4. Orthopedics uses state-of-the-art technology to give you an accurate diagnosis
Orthopedics has been using diagnostic imaging for more than a century now, so they’re very good at it! Radiologists are specially trained in bone scans, MRIs, and x-ray/CT scanning, making interpreting results much easier for an orthopedic surgeon.
And if you’ve ever had an MRI or CT scan, you know that it can be painful to have these imaging procedures done. That is why most orthopedic surgeons will offer pain relief for their patients and also because an orthopedic doctor understands the effect medical imaging can have on your body.
Final Words
So now that you know why you should go to an orthopedic doctor instead of a general medical doctor, an orthopedic doctor can handle cases on a cash basis, so there is no need to worry about not paying for your care. If you don’t have any insurance plan, it doesn’t matter – orthopedics will still help you get better! And if you do have a health plan, you can always submit a claim to get reimbursed.
