No More Bracing. No More Wincing. Salt Lake County's Top-rated Clinic for Knee Pain Treatment.
Written by Dr. Alec Laracuente, NMD, PhD and Dr. Steven Chalk, DC · Freedom Integrated Medicine, South Jordan, UT · Last updated October 2026
Freedom Integrated Medicine is the top-rated knee pain treatment clinic serving South Jordan, Draper, and Salt Lake County, with more than 300 five-star Google reviews. Our knee pain treatment combines regenerative injections, knee decompression, chiropractic care, and cold laser therapy to repair the joint at its source instead of quieting the ache for a few weeks. We treat knee osteoarthritis, bone-on-bone pain, meniscus and ligament injuries, bursitis, and pain on stairs, all while helping patients keep their own knee and stay off medication. Many of the people we help arrived after being told a replacement was their only option. Your first step is the $49 New Patient Special, a one-on-one consultation with a doctor, a full exam, and X-rays that find the real cause before we recommend anything.
The Knee Patients We See Most, and What We Tell Them
The person who comes to our South Jordan clinic for knee pain treatment has usually been told a knee replacement is coming, and they want a way to keep their own knee instead. For most of them, lasting knee pain relief without surgery is realistic, because effective treatment starts by finding what is actually driving the pain, whether that is worn cartilage, an old injury, joint inflammation, or the way the knee loads with every step, and then treating that directly.
You have probably already worked down the usual path, the ibuprofen that helps for an afternoon, the cortisone shot that faded by the next season, the physical therapy that moved the needle a little, the orthopedic visit that ended with the word “replacement.” What you want back is ordinary. You want to take the stairs without hunting for the railing, get up off the floor after a grandchild pulls you down there, and sleep a full night without the ache waking you. That is the work our regenerative medicine program does every week, and for the knee it usually does not run through an operating room. For the broader picture of what goes wrong inside the joint, see our knee pain overview.
How We Rebuild a Knee Instead of Replacing It
A painful knee is rarely one problem. The cartilage may be thinning, the joint inflamed, the stabilizing muscles weakened, and the mechanics off, often at once, so a clinic that owns a single tool has to bend your knee to fit it. We practice regenerative and integrative medicine in one building, so we match the treatment to what your knee needs.
Regenerative injections are frequently the center of the plan, and they work in the opposite direction from a cortisone shot. Cortisone calms a joint for a while and, used repeatedly, can accelerate cartilage breakdown, while platelet-rich plasma and stem cell therapy deliver concentrated healing factors that support the tissue itself. A systematic review of randomized trials found PRP produced better symptom relief and fewer repeat treatments than the injections it was compared against for knee osteoarthritis, and a separate review of controlled trials found stem cell injections improved pain and function in osteoarthritic knees. You can see how we use each on our stem cell therapy for knees and PRP injections for knee arthritis pages.
The injections rarely work alone. We use knee decompression to gently open space in the joint and lift load off the surfaces that are grinding, and cold laser therapy to bring down inflammation and support repair. A meta-analysis of placebo-controlled trials found low-level laser therapy significantly reduced pain and disability in knee osteoarthritis, which is why it earns a place in the plan. Then we add the strengthening that holds the result, because a knee braced by stronger muscle carries less load through the worn spots. Together these cover the causes we see most, from osteoarthritis and bone-on-bone wear to bursitis, meniscus and ligament injuries, and the ache on stairs.
I (Dr. Chalk) wrote a book called “The Future of Healing” that covers degenerative knee conditions, and its through-line is the one we practice here, that a joint given the right support and space does a remarkable amount of its own repair.
Who Gets the Most From Knee Pain Treatment, and Who We Turn Away
The knee patient we treat most often is between fifty-five and seventy-five, has managed the pain for five years or longer, and has been handed a replacement they want to postpone or avoid. That person tends to do well with us, and so does the weekend athlete nursing a stubborn meniscus and the person whose knee started aching with no injury behind it. Bone-on-bone knee pain does not disqualify anyone on its own, and older patients respond as well as younger ones, because we build the plan around the joint in front of us rather than the age on the chart. Much of what we treat is degenerative arthritis that has narrowed the joint slowly for years, and calming that joint while supporting the remaining cartilage is what tends to make relief hold.
We are also straight about fit. If a knee has already been replaced and the hardware is failing, if there is an active infection in the joint, or if imaging shows damage that genuinely belongs to a surgeon, we are not your first stop, and we will say so plainly and point you toward the care you need. The only way to know which group your knee is in is to look at it, which is exactly what the exam does.
From Your First Call to Your First Treatment
Here is exactly what happens, starting with the phone.
Getting on the schedule
When you call, our friendly front desk staff get you booked, usually within a few days. Patients drive in from Draper, Daybreak, Riverton, Herriman, Sandy, and West Jordan, and the parking at our Daybreak Parkway office is easy and right out front, which matters when a knee is the reason you came.
Your $49 New Patient Special visit
Your first visit is the $49 New Patient Special, which includes a one-on-one consultation with a doctor, a full exam, and X-rays. We use that time to hear your history, watch how the knee actually moves, and look at the joint on imaging so we can see the wear and how the bones line up. We do not treat a knee before we understand what is wrong with it.
The day we walk you through the plan
At your next visit we show you what we found, in plain language, and lay out a personalized plan with the investment explained before you decide anything. We only recommend treatment we believe will help you. When we are not the right fit, we tell you, and we would rather lose a patient than start a plan we do not believe in.
Treatment, and what the weeks after feel like
The injections are quick, done right in the office, and most patients describe brief pressure more than real pain, while the decompression and cold laser therapy are comfortable enough that people relax through them. Every knee heals on its own clock, so we never hand you a date, but many patients notice less stiffness and easier stairs within the first few weeks, with the deeper repair building over the months that follow.
Why Knee Pain Patients Across Salt Lake County Choose Us
Everything your knee needs is in one place. We are one of the few clinics in Utah practicing an integrative and regenerative approach together, with stem cell and PRP injections, knee decompression, chiropractic care, and cold laser therapy all in the same building. That combination matters for a knee, because the damaged tissue needs one kind of help and the joint mechanics need another, and treating both at once repairs the injury at a deep and lasting level instead of working it from a single angle.
We treat the reason the knee hurts rather than muffling the signal. Pain pills and repeat cortisone quiet things down while the cartilage keeps wearing, so our aim is to get you back on your feet, up the stairs, and through the night without surgery and without a growing list of prescriptions.
The trust is earned in public. We are the top-rated and most trusted regenerative medicine clinic in Salt Lake County, with more than 300 five-star Google reviews, thousands of patients helped, care here since 2020, and features in the Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret News, and on Telemundo.
Our doctors are bilingual, which changes a knee consult more than it sounds. Dr. Alec and Dr. Chalk examine and explain findings in English and Spanish, so a Spanish-speaking patient hears their diagnosis and plan directly from the doctor. Tenemos también una página en español sobre el dolor de rodilla.
In Our Knee Patients' Own Words
Our knee patients put it more plainly.
What Knee Treatment Costs, and What Staying Stuck Costs More
The comparison worth making is not this treatment against doing nothing for free. Staying stuck carries its own bill, paid slowly, in more years of guarding the knee, a medication list that keeps climbing, cortisone shots that wear off on a schedule, and often the very knee replacement you have been working to avoid, with its surgery and months of rehab. That path is genuinely expensive. It simply never arrives as one invoice.
The $49 New Patient Special is the small, certain step that replaces the guessing. For less than the cost of many copays, you get a one-on-one consultation with a doctor, a full exam, and X-rays, and you walk out knowing the actual cause of your knee pain before spending a dollar on treatment. Because every knee is different, we present the exact plan and its cost at your report of findings, with everything explained before you decide. What that plan buys is measured in stairs, in sleep, and in the years of walking the pain has been quietly taking.
Common Questions About Knee Pain and Its Treatment
Can I really get lasting knee pain relief without a knee replacement?
Most patients can get lasting knee pain relief without a replacement, and helping people avoid that surgery is a large part of what we do. Treating the joint at its source lets many patients postpone or sidestep an operation, and the exam tells us whether that is realistic for your knee.
What are the best knee replacement alternatives for bone-on-bone knee pain?
The strongest alternatives to a knee replacement for bone-on-bone pain are regenerative injections, knee decompression, and cold laser therapy used together. That combination calms the joint and improves how it carries load, and many patients told they were bone on bone have kept their own knee.
How are your knee injections different from a cortisone shot?
Our knee injections use your body’s own healing factors to support the joint, which is the opposite of what a cortisone shot does. Cortisone eases inflammation briefly and, repeated over time, can speed cartilage breakdown, while PRP and stem cell injections deliver repair factors that rebuild the tissue.
I have osteoarthritis of the knee joint. What are my options besides surgery?
Osteoarthritis of the knee responds well to regenerative injections, knee decompression, cold laser therapy, targeted strengthening, and chiropractic support, all without surgery. We match the specific mix to what your imaging shows about how far the arthritis has progressed.
Why do my knees hurt when I bend, kneel, or go down stairs?
Knee pain that spikes when you bend, kneel, or head down stairs usually points to cartilage wear or irritation under the kneecap, because those movements load the joint hardest. Descending stairs asks the front of the knee to carry your full weight on a bent joint, so it is often the first place patients feel wear.
What is causing my knee pain if I never had a specific injury?
Knee pain with no injury behind it is most often gradual cartilage wear, early osteoarthritis, or mechanical stress built up over years. Alignment issues and muscle imbalances can wear a joint down quietly, and an exam with X-rays tells us which is driving your pain.
What are good exercises for knee pain?
Gentle strengthening of the quadriceps, hamstrings, and hips is one of the most effective things you can do for a painful knee, and it is also how you keep the pain from coming back. We send patients home with strengthening work matched to their knee, not a generic handout.
How soon will I feel knee pain relief after starting treatment?
No painkiller fixes the source of knee pain, which is the core limitation of relying on one. Medication dulls the signal for a few hours while the cartilage keeps wearing, so we calm the joint and support its repair instead.
Do I need imaging or a referral before starting knee pain treatment with you?
Many patients notice less stiffness and easier movement within the first few weeks, with deeper repair building over the following months. Every knee heals on its own schedule, so we never promise a date and adjust the plan as your joint responds.
Are your treatments a good fit for older patients with knee pain?
You do not need a referral or your own imaging, because X-rays are part of your $49 New Patient Special. If you have recent MRI or X-ray results, bring them and we will factor them in. Otherwise we handle the imaging at your first visit.
Why should I choose Freedom Integrated Medicine for your knee pain?
Freedom Integrated Medicine is the top-rated and most trusted regenerative medicine clinic in Salt Lake County, serving South Jordan and Draper, and we have helped thousands of patients quiet knee pain and keep their own knee. More than 300 five-star Google reviews come from people in exactly that situation. Our licensed doctors treat the cause of the pain without surgery and without medication, using stem cell and PRP injections, knee decompression, and cold laser therapy together. We have served this community since 2020, and both doctors treat and explain in English and Spanish.
Start Where the Answers Are, in South Jordan
If your knee has been holding you back, real knee pain treatment starts with a straight answer about why it hurts and a plan to fix it. We see patients from across the Salt Lake Valley, including South Jordan, Draper, Daybreak, Riverton, Herriman, Sandy, and West Jordan, and we would be glad to look at your knee. When you are ready, the $49 New Patient Special is the place to start, and it is the beginning of getting back the stairs, the walks, and the full nights of sleep the pain has taken.
Freedom Integrated Medicine
4775 W. Daybreak Parkway, STE 102, South Jordan, UT 84009
Phone: (801) 571-1338
Hours:
Monday to Wednesday: 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM
Thursday: 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Friday: 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Meet The Doctors
About Your Knee Pain Doctors
Dr. Steven Chalk, DC
Dr. Steven Chalk, DC founded Freedom Integrated Medicine after a bulged disc in his own twenties showed him what it feels like to be told to just live with it. He holds a Bachelor's in Exercise Science from BYU and a Doctorate in Chiropractic from Parker University, has performed more than 75,000 adjustments, and is the author of "The Future of Healing," a book on neuropathy and degenerative knee conditions. Dr. Chalk treats patients in English and Spanish.
Dr. Alec Laracuente, NMD, PhD
Dr. Alec Laracuente, NMD, PhD is a licensed Naturopathic Medical Doctor with a PhD in Integrative Medicine and a Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from the University of Turabo, Puerto Rico. He completed a Family Practice and Pain Management Residency at the Institute of Pain Care of the Caribbean and leads our regenerative medicine program for spinal conditions, knee pain, and neuropathy. He treats patients in English and Spanish.
Dr. Dustin Creer, DC
Dr. Dustin Creer, DC earned his Doctorate of Chiropractic and Master's of Sports Medicine from the University of Western States in Portland, Oregon, after an undergraduate degree in Sports and Exercise Science from Utah Valley University. He has trained across multiple chiropractic disciplines and worked with athletes at every level, from youth and amateur to professional and Olympic, and he favors holistic, gentle techniques tailored to each patient. Over his career he has performed well over 100,000 adjustments.