What is Ultrasound?
Reflex providers use a medical imaging technique at our facility called ultrasound. An important part of the Reflex approach, ultrasound allows our providers to evaluate ligaments, tendons, and other knee structures in real time and helps them pinpoint the source of pain. By emitting ultrasonic sound waves (frequencies inaudible to human ears), this new diagnostic imaging is able to detect changes in cartilage or underlying bone years before any abnormalities are identified by other methods such as Xray.
Why we use Ultrasound
- Procedure Accuracy: Injections are only beneficial when delivered directly into the affected joint space. Studies have shown that when knee injections are performed without imaging guidance such as ultrasound, the joint space is missed up to 30% of the time. Reflex providers have all been trained in musculoskeletal ultrasound of the knee and all of our knee injection joint therapies are performed with ultrasound guidance to ensure that your treatment gets delivered to the precise target. This provides you with the best possible outcome from each and every injection.
- Dynamic Testing: An advantage of ultrasound over MRI is that a provider can stress a ligament or tendon in real time to see how functional (or dysfunctional) the structure is when stress is applied. Ultrasound can be repeated on a regular basis to follow an injury over time to ensure that it is healing properly.
- Early Diagnosis of Knee Osteoarthritis: Ultrasound can detect changes in cartilage many years before Xray or MRI, allowing our providers to diagnose Osteoarthritis (OA) in its early stages. This is a huge deal since OA is a devastating process which will slowly destroy the entire joint over time. Patients with knee OA normally aren’t diagnosed until severe and irreversible damage to the cartilage and underlying bone has already occurred. Since treatments are most effective in the early stages of OA, we believe that early diagnosis and intervention is the best way people can keep their knees for many more years and avoid total knee replacement.
Call us today to schedule an initial knee evaluation that uses this technology at (503) 719-6783.