One of the well-researched benefits of acupuncture is that it reduces inflammation. This can help with chronic inflammatory conditions (think arthritis, inflammatory bowel diseases, asthma, etc.) as well as local inflammation due to muscle and tendon inflammation. Patients of all ages can receive benefit when they have inflammatory knee pain due to arthritis, growing pains, muscle and tendon strains, or Osgood-Schlatter disease. For these conditions, thin acupuncture needles are placed both around the inflamed area as well as further down the leg to reduce inflammation. Commonly, by the time the 30-minute acupuncture treatment has ended, there is a visible and palpable decrease in the local inflammation and swelling. I recently addressed two very different types of knee pain, with great results. One patient was a 70-year-old female with persistent arthritis of the knee. In her case I placed acupuncture needles around the knee, as the bulk of the pain was felt in the center of the knee. Her knee felt looser and more mobile directly after the treatment, and in fact, she found that ongoing acupuncture had helped her avert a knee replacement surgery for several years. Another recent case was a 20-year-old male with Osgood-Schlatter disease, an inflammatory condition of the knee that’s common during growing years. He was a competitive athlete who could not perform at his best due to knee pain and some quadriceps tension. After a single session with needles placed mostly at the inner knee where there was obvious swelling, the swelling reduced before the 30-minute treatment had ended and he felt noticeably better playing sports for the next several days. Continued treatment will be key for helping him work out at a high level. Are you suffering from an inflammatory knee condition? Acupuncture can work wonders. It’s never too late to start!