Physical Therapy to Overcome Knee & Back Pain

Knee and back pain are two of the most common health complaints of people living in California. 

Knee Pain

People can experience knee pain for all kinds of reasons. Knee pain can be the result of surgery, arthritis, or injury. Often the knee can feel achy when it’s not in use, or you can experience sharp stabbing pains when you move it or apply pressure. 

Physical therapy is a great way to manage knee pain and improve the state of your joint. If you’ve been suffering from knee pain for a while, your doctor may recommend a physical therapist. 

The purpose of physical therapy is to ease knee joint paint and increase the strength and robustness of the joint. Ultimately, physical therapy should allow you to move the knee joint with greater freedom. 

What Form Does Physical Therapy for Knee Pain Take? 

Your therapist might engage in the following strategies to remedy your knee pain: 

  • Electrical nerve and muscle stimulation (designed to strengthen the surrounding muscles)
  • Ultrasound massage 
  • Ice and heat treatment
  • Stretching and tailored exercise movements


The goal of the physical therapist is to get to the root cause of your knee pain. The better the therapist can identify the reason, the more likely the treatment will be a success. 

Back Pain

Back pain is something that affects more than 75 percent of Americans at some point in their lives. It’s a debilitating condition which can severely affect your quality of life, making working, walking, and sleeping difficult. 

Physical therapy can help people suffering from back pain, just as it can those with knee pain. 

Physical therapists use a range of techniques to help people with back pain manage and overcome their condition. 

Examples of Physical Therapy for Back Pain

  • Strengthening exercises. Physical therapists may conclude that a lack of muscle strength (or muscle imbalance) is causing your back pain. They may, therefore, recommend that you engage in a variety of strengthening exercises to target underdeveloped muscle groups. Often the muscle groups that require strengthening are not in the back at all, but elsewhere in the body. 
  • Pain relief exercises. Sometimes you need a little extra help managing back pain when it gets bad. Physical therapists can recommend specific exercises when you need pain relief the most. 
  • Cupping and dry needling. Cupping and dry needling are techniques that physical therapists use to help with back pain and stimulate the body to repair. 
  • Heat and cold treatment. The muscles in the back can become inflamed or “knotted.” Applying heat and cold, however, can lead to a reduction in inflammation and help the back to return to a state of health. 
  • Manual therapies. Manual therapies, like massage, can help relieve back pain by opening up muscles and boosting blood flow to the target region. Better nutrient transport can have a dramatic effect on how your back feels. 


Physical therapy, therefore, can help overcome both knee and back pain. If you have knee or back pain, then get in touch with us today to find out how we can help.