Chronic Knee pain

Here’s a case study from Dr Tom Scott a Chiropractor from Prestatyn, North Wales.

A patient presented to my clinic with chronic low back pain. On examining the case history it was noted that he had chronic knee pain which had been sore and swollen for over five years.

At the time Mr N presented to this clinic I had only just ordered my Laser. A course of chiropractic adjustments was begun and as this condition began to resolve I was very keen to try my new Laser and recommended an experimental course of laser therapy for the chronic knee condition. (I was still very sceptical as in the past the hype had always exceeded reality). On examination the knee was swollen and was 40% larger than the other knee. Pain and tenderness was noted on palpation of the patella and medial joint especially around the medial insertion of the quadriceps. The patient was unable to walk more 150 yards before pain forced him to stop. His condition to this time had been managed with constant intake of painkillers.

From years of working with applied kinesiology, I tested the quadriceps and found them to be significantly weak on the side of the knee involvement. It had been my experience that the quadriceps were often involved with knee joint damage. I began the protocols to strengthen this muscle with digital stimulation of the golgi tendon organs in the origin and insertion of the Quads. This was vey painful as it often is and the procedure was not very pleasant for the patient. Retesting the muscle showed improvement in muscle strength. This was followed by a basic application of LILT to the knee joint including the popliteal fossa to stimulate lymphatic drainage.

On return two days later the patient told me that it was a little better of a couple of hours then back to prior state and Quads tested week again. The golgi tendon organs where very tender still from prior treatment and further stimulation was not practical to to pain experienced by patient.

As I was reading every book I could get my hands on about laser therapy I reasoned that LILT should have a bio-stimulatory effect on these nerve receptors. Application of LILT to the knee resulted in an immediate strengthening of the quads.

On consequent visits the swelling diminished the quads stayed strong and where able to support the recovery and after 8 visits the knee had return to normal size and the patient was able to walk up to 2 miles without pain. Due to the chronic nature of this injury and the amount of damage already done to the knee we decreased the frequency of visits to weekly and now to 2 weekly. The case is still open and the patient has an active life again.