Osteoarthritis [3]

Osteoarthritis is one of the less serious types of arthritis and rarely leads to crippling. It is a chronic but very treatable disease. The goals of treatment are to relieve pain and to improve or maintain the movement of the joints. For rare cases of severe disability, surgical treatment may be necessary.

Diagnosis of Osteoarthritis (OA)

It may seem that diagnosing OA would simply involve a few X-rays. However, it is very important that your doctor rule out other forms of arthritis. Your doctor will also need to figure out if your OA was caused by another problem (secondary OA). And even if OA is the main problem, the breakdown of cartilage may have caused problems in other parts of the joint that need to be addressed.

Your doctor will ask you many detailed questions about your health history. Explaining the nature of your pain will be important. Following your history, the doctor will thoroughly examine the affected joints. X-rays will most likely be taken. Blood samples and samples of the synovial fluid in the joint may be taken to try to identify other problems.

Treatment for Osteoarthritis

Much of the treatment for Osteoarthritis is non-surgical and involves no medication. Your doctor will encourage you to take some steps to help manage your symptoms:

• Get aerobic exercise.
• Use heat and cold packs.
• If overweight, lose weight.
• Tape the knee, if it is affected.
• Do strengthening and range of motion exercises.
• Participate in education programs or support groups.
• Wear wedged insoles in shoes, if the hip or knee is affected.
• Use equipment such as a cane to take pressure off your joints.

Medication for Osteoarthritis

Drugs are available to help alleviate symptoms of Osteoarthritis. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen and aspirin, may be prescribed. The main problem with NSAIDs is that they can be very hard on your stomach and kidneys over time, and you will probably be taking these drugs over many years. In rare cases of extreme pain, doctors may prescribe stronger pain medications, but these can be addictive and must be used with caution. You should let your doctor know what other medicines you are taking, and you must work closely with your doctor to set up dose amounts and schedules.

Alternative Treatments

In recent years, two unique compounds have been used to treat OA: Glucosamine and Chondroitin sulfate. These compounds are gaining greater acceptance among many doctors. Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are dietary supplements taken in pill form that have shown benfits of reducing pain and increasing joint mobility. Some doctors feel there are enough benefits to encourage their osteoarthritis patients to supplement with these compounds.

Capsaicin cream rubbed into the joint sometimes provides pain relief. Occasionally doctors may recommend tidal joint lavage, which involves rinsing the joint with saline. Steroid injections directly into the joint can help ease the pain in some cases. Alternative treatments, such as pulsed electromagnetic fields and electrical nerve stimulation, have also been tested.

Surgery for Osteoarthritis

When pain cannot be relieved and joint function cannot be maintained, your doctor may recommend orthopedic surgery for osteoarthritis. While this option may sound scary, surgery can be very effective in treating OA. Surgery can effectively eliminate pain and restore movement.

Many types of surgical procedures have been designed to treat OA. Perhaps the most well known treatment is joint replacement surgery. Artificial joint replacement is the final answer to osteoarthritis after the joint is totally destroyed, but other surgical procedures have been designed to treat osteoarthritis in its early stages to reduce symptoms and slow the progression of the disease.