For the rest of us, at what point should someone be talking to a doctor about knee pain?
There’s a spectrum of injuries that can occur. If you have mild pain without a lot of swelling, you can see how that goes over a week or two, talk to your primary care doctor, maybe do some physical therapy. But the concerning things that lead to surgery are persistent swelling, persistent clicking, catching, locking, or sensation of instability in your knee. The best ways to avoid injuries to your knee is to maintain excellent strength and flexibility — stretching exercises foryour hamstrings, your Achilles [tendon], your quads … The use of an exercise bike is a phenomenal way to strengthen your knee without impacting it. I do this myself three or four times a week — I will either ride a regular bike or an exercise bike to maintain strength and fitness around my knees. And I’ve taken hundreds, if not thousands, of my own patients through an exercise bike program that I think is very valuable for maintaining that.
