Weeks 1–2
Pain
Calm the joint down.
Hands-on work settles the irritated joint and the swelling around it, and we change the few daily movements that keep re-loading it. That starts your first visit.
What We Treat
Hip and knee pain treatment in Morris Plains.
Stairs you now take one at a time, and a joint you no longer trust on the way down. Hips and knees tend to fail together, so we assess them together.
Sound Familiar?
Does this sound like you?
- Taking the stairs one at a time so the knee doesn’t have to decide
- That first stiff, grinding step out of bed, before the hip loosens up
- Pushing off both thighs with your hands to get out of a low chair
- Sitting down to put your socks on, because the hip won’t bend that far standing
- A knee that puffs up the night after a good long walk
- Saying no to the hike, then telling everyone you were tired anyway
Two or more? Keep reading.
Why It Happens
The pain is in the joint. The problem usually isn’t.
Hips and knees work as a pair. When the hip stops rotating freely, the knee twists to make up the difference. When the glutes get quiet, the kneecap tracks off line and the cartilage takes the friction. Add a stiff ankle underneath, or a few weeks of guarding after an old injury, and one joint ends up absorbing load it was never built to carry alone.
So the sore spot is often the loudest link, not the weakest one. A knee can ache because of a hip. A hip can ache because of how you push off. None of that shows up on a quick glance, and it’s why rest, a brace, or a generic stretch sheet keeps falling short: they answer the symptom. A cause-first evaluation finds which link is overloading the joint, and then the fix gets obvious.
The Honest Truth
A joint doesn’t rest its way back to strong.
If you keep waiting
- The good leg quietly takes over, and then it starts complaining too
- The quad and the glute keep shrinking, so the joint loses the support it leans on
- Your world narrows one thing at a time: the stairs, then the walk, then the yard
If you start now
- You know which link is overloading the joint by the end of visit one
- Hands-on work settles the ache while you keep moving, not while you sit still
- You get a plan with an endpoint: stairs you trust again, not an open tab of visits
Nobody regrets starting too early. Plenty of people regret waiting.
How We Fix It
The same four phases. Built for hips and knees.
Every plan has an endpoint. Here’s what the four phases look like for a hip or a knee.
Weeks 2–6
Prime
Get the motion back.
Hip rotation and full knee bend come back, so the joint stops borrowing motion from its neighbors to get through a step.
Weeks 6–10
Perform
Build strength you can trust.
Glutes, quads and single-leg control get loaded on purpose, until the joint has something holding it steady on a step down.
Weeks 10+
Prevent
Return better than before.
Stairs, hills, squats and distance get tested under real load before you’re cleared to go all-in: that’s the endpoint, not just another appointment.
I started physical therapy 2 weeks post op and I could barely bend my knee 90°, but it’s now been 4 weeks later and my recovery has been smoother than I could’ve imagined because of the help of Dr. Namrata!
Shared by Paige V. · Meniscus repair
Two weeks after the operation: could barely bend the knee to 90°
Four weeks later: a recovery smoother than she imagined
Meniscus repair
4 weeks
Questions, Answered
What people ask before booking for a hip or knee.
Usually not, and it’s rarely the first step. Imaging shows the structure, not the way the joint is being loaded, and scans regularly find wear and tear in hips and knees that never hurt at all. Your evaluation looks at how the joint moves, what the muscle around it can hold, and where the load is coming from. If imaging becomes genuinely necessary, your therapist will help you get it. You don’t have to wait on a scan to start feeling better.
Almost never all the way off. Hips and knees are load-loving joints: cartilage stays healthier when it is used, and a few weeks of protecting the leg shrinks the quad and glute that hold the joint steady. Hurt does not always mean harm. What matters is the right dose of the right movement for your joint, worked out one-on-one with a Doctor of Physical Therapy, every visit, and progressed as the pain drops.
You get that answer at the end of your evaluation, not from a webpage. A hip or knee plan runs through all four phases, Pain, Prime, Perform and Prevent, and how long it takes depends on how long the joint has been guarded and how much strength went with it. Either way it is a plan with an endpoint: you will always know which phase you are in and what is left, not an open-ended string of appointments.
Book Your Visit
Ready when you are.
Request a time and a real person calls you back, usually within one business day. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.
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Hours Mon, Wed, Fri: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Tue, Thu: 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM - (973) 453-0488 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
- No referral needed in New Jersey
5.0 · 33 Google reviews
Typical response: within one business day
Step 1 of 5
Request sent.
That’s the hard part done. We’ll call during business hours to lock in your time and find you the earliest one that works.
Visit Us
Care this good, this close.
10 on 10 Physical Therapy
- 3025 NJ Route 10, Unit 1, Morris Plains, NJ 07950 (opens in new tab)
- (973) 453-0488
- Fax: (973) 394-2421
- enquiry@10on10pt.com
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Mon, Wed, Fri: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Tue, Thu: 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM