Doctors treat knee pain with cold therapy

CHICAGO (WLS) -- More than 10 million Americans suffer from knee pain. Drugs and surgery can be a fix, but now there's a new option for some patients: doctors are freezing away the pain.

Abbey Watson, 16, has been running her whole life. The cross country athlete has even gone to state competitions. But recently, knee pain slowed her down.

"Every time I stepped down, it would send a shock through my legs," Watson says.

Watson had a condition where growth spurts caused painful swelling right below her knee. Dr. Vernon Williams offered her a way to freeze away the pain called focused cold therapy.

"That focused cold therapy allows us to reduce the temperature of a peripheral nerve to a very precise zone," Dr. Williams says.

Doctors locate the nerve that's responsible for the pain. They then numb the area and insert a cold probe with liquid nitric oxide to freeze the nerve.

"And that results in just turning that nerve off temporarily, so it's unable to send pain signals," Dr. Williams says.

The cold therapy reaches -120 degrees. It doesn't damage surrounding tissues and doesn't kill the nerve. The relief lasts a few months.

Watson noticed a difference right away.

"I ran the next day, and it was already significantly better," she says.

Now she's setting her goals high with no pain holding her back.

"I'm looking forward to going to state," she says, "and we're even hoping to make nationals."

The cold therapy procedure can be used for any kind of pain where a peripheral nerve is involved. Dr. Williams says he even uses it to relieve headaches in some of his patients.