Tag Archives: osteoarthritis treatment options

knee oa treatments ranked

Study Ranks Treatments for Knee OA

A new study takes a look at which approaches are best to bring relief to people with knee osteoarthritis (OA), a condition that affects approximately 20 percent of people over the age of 45 in the United States.

Knee OA can be extremely painful and limit a person’s ability to function. Although there is no cure, numerous treatments are available to reduce symptoms, including over-the-counter and prescription drugs. Exercising and losing weight if a patient is overweight or obese also can help. Total knee replacement surgery is effective but is done only in cases where the disease is advanced and it’s medically necessary.

So, which treatment is best? To help sort out the choices, a group of researchers set out to assess how the available non-surgical drug treatments stack up against each other for providing pain relief and improving physical function. The authors did not address lifestyle changes, like weight loss and exercise. The study was published recently in Journal of American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS).

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Osteoarthritis Treatment Options

Potential New Treatment for Osteoarthritis

Traditionally, treatment for osteoarthritis has been limited to relieving pain. Scientists have found hope that drugs used to treat osteoporosis may be useful in treating not only osteoarthritis (OA) pain, but cartilage damage as well.

Osteoporosis is a condition in which bone tissue breaks down faster than it is replaced, causing the bones to become brittle and prone to fracture. Bisphosphonates, a class of drugs commonly prescribed for osteoporosis, work by inhibiting cells called osteoclasts that break down bone. Researchers believe they may work similarly for OA, by inhibiting the activity of osteoclasts in the bone beneath the cartilage in affected joints.

In animal studies, bisphophonates have shown to reduce OA progression – as measured by the severity of cartilage damage and bony overgrowth – by as much as 30–40%. Continue reading Potential New Treatment for Osteoarthritis