Don’t Make this Common Mistake while dealing with Knee Pain – Part 2

December 6, 2022
Knee Pain, Physical Therapy

What to do when your Doctor drops the “S” word…

Story – You went to your doctor c/o knee pain, and he sent you off for an x-ray. When he called you to discuss the findings, he dropped the “s” word – SURGERY. What do you do next?

My name is Ryan Seifert – A physical therapist and knee pain expert at Natural Fit Therapy here in Austin Texas.

At our clinic, we’ve successfully treated many people who were told their only option was surgery, and in this quick video below I’m going to tell you what I told them:

We already covered common myths about injections – Click here to see if you missed it part 1 of the blog

So, why imaging doesn’t tell the whole story & what other options you have to improve your knee pain even if you’ve been told surgery is your only option:

First, take a Deep breath – just because he said it doesn’t make it true
Some things you should know about Imaging…
1. Pain vs findings
2. Arthritis is normal
3. Surgeries that address the wrong cause
4. Off surgeries that are exploratory (run!)
Get a separate opinion from a PT (not a second opinion from another surgeon)
1. Separate vs second opinion.. medical doctors are trained to do surgery, doctors of physical therapy are trained to prevent surgery;
2. Doctors of physical therapy are also trained to recognize what we call “red flags” which are key indicators that your situation is outside of our scope of practice.
3. If we can’t help, we’ll be honest and let you know we’re not your best option. Most of the time, however, PT is an effective, more time-efficient, and cost-effective way to proceed.

So, now that you understand why imaging doesn’t tell the whole story and surgery isn’t necessarily the only option, you may be wondering what other options you have for treating your knee pain naturally?

Here is what you need to do: