The Source / A field guide to feeling better
Knee
Stairs, a walk and rising from a chair can tell you what a knee problem is changing in your life.
Can you point to it?
Select a label to explore its side of the body
Choose the closest area.
Pick a point on the close-up, or choose from the list below. Each one covers what might be going on, the details that help at a visit, and the research behind it.
Put the symptoms in context
A knee that swelled up after an injury is a different story from one that stiffened gradually. The plan depends on the cause, your goals and what we find at the exam.
Follow the question
Explore knee
Each guide explains what the condition is, what the research shows and where it runs out, and when it calls for a different kind of care than ours. An exam is how we look for which one, if any, fits you.
- Condition guide
Knee pain
Swelling, stiffness and pain when the knee takes weight, with a closer look at nonsurgical care for osteoarthritis.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Arm & leg pain
The difference between pain from a joint or muscle and pain traveling along a nerve.
Understand this condition
Where to start with knee pain
Start with our knee pain guide, which sorts a knee that locked after a twist from one stiffening for months and lists the warning signs that mean skipping us for urgent care. Arm & leg pain is here because nerve pain can reach the knee.
Bring any knee X-ray or MRI report, and a list of what you've tried.
The research on nonsurgical knee care
The study below compared physical therapy with a steroid injection for knee osteoarthritis: one trial, in one diagnosis. A knee that hurts for a different reason may need a different kind of exercise, and the trial didn't test adjustments at all. So we work out what may be contributing to your knee pain first. The knee guide covers what can come after that: exercise, medicines, hands-on care or a specialist's opinion.
Follow the evidence
Research, with context.
Selected published sources behind what we've written, each with what it found and what it can't tell us. We give you both halves because no paper can diagnose you or predict how your own care will go.
Physical Therapy versus Glucocorticoid Injection for Osteoarthritis of the Knee
156 patients with knee osteoarthritis in the US military health system.
What it foundPatients assigned physical therapy had less pain and disability at one year than those assigned glucocorticoid injection.
What it can't tell usIt was a physical therapy trial in one particular setting. It doesn't show cartilage regeneration, and it doesn't vouch for every treatment offered for knee pain.
Publication details & citation
Deyle et al. Physical Therapy versus Glucocorticoid Injection for Osteoarthritis of the Knee. New England Journal of Medicine. 2020. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1905877.
Read the publication record
Our editorial policy explains how to read these sources and what our clinical-review labels mean.