Treatment

Knee Assessment During COVID-19

The number one OrthoIndy goal is public safety (patients and staff) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone knows about social distancing, hand washing and the rationale for not allowing elective surgeries: both to avoid the risks to patients and staff and to conserve scarce hospital beds and the personal protection equipment (PPE) that is essential on the front line.

About the Knee Telehealth Consultation

Once the COVID-19 pandemic surge has receded, there will be a staged return to elective surgery. This will be based on the recommendations of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) as well as the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH). They are all monitoring the crisis with patient safety as the highest priority and will provide guidance and recommendations regarding safety upon return to elective surgery.

Until COVID-19 is contained and controlled, there will still be patients with knee problems that deserve assessment and initiation of conservative measures. These significant, but non-emergent or urgent knee problems can be accessed via a Telehealth Consultation when an in-office visit is avoidable.

Schedule a Telehealth Consultation

To schedule a Telehealth Consultation appointment with a knee replacement doctor, please call 317-802-2000. Prior to your Telehealth Consultation, you will be asked to complete health history and knee specific history on a secure web portal. You can review the following information to help you tell us about your knee problem. This will allow for a more productive Knee Telehealth Consultation for you.

Disclaimer/Warning

A general overview of your knee problems is not intended to diagnose or treat your knee problem. The telehealth appointments can determine whether you need a knee replacement or whether you have knee arthritis or another condition. Before initiating treatment, such as seeking knee surgery, directly speak to or see an expert through an in-person consultation or Telehealth Consultation, during this COVID-19 pandemic.

You can prepare your specific answers to a series of questions that will better help evaluate your problem:

  • Location: is the pain localized to one area (touch with one finger) front, back, inner aspect, outer aspect or generalized?

  • Quality: such as sharp, dull, aching, burning, etc.?

  • Severity: mild, moderate, severe?

  • Timing: is it present all the time or just with certain activities such as stairs, squatting, twisting?

  • Duration: is in constant or does it come and go; how many days, weeks, months or years?

  • Context: what activities make it worse?

  • Modifying Factors:  what have you tried and has it helped? Anti-inflammatories, icing, bracing, crutches, home exercise

  • Associated Signs: Is/was there swelling, bruising, fluid in or on the knee, redness?

  • Associated Symptoms: Is the patella unstable, do you feel locking, catching, grinding or the sense that a loose body is moving in your knee?

  • On a scale of 0-10, what is your pain at rest?

  • On a scale of 0-10, what is your maximal pain?

  • On a scale of 0-100, with 0 = bedridden and 100=full function, how do you rate your knee?

LEARN MORE ABOUT KNEE TELEHEALTH INJURIES

LEARN MORE ABOUT KNEE TELEHEALTH TREATMENT