Osteoarthritis is a common health condition, which affects almost every joint in the human body. Especially, it affects the joints bearing most of the bodyweight, like feet and knees. Joints we use often in our daily life, such as hands’ joints may even affect adversely.
If you have a healthy joint, a coat of tough, slippery, and smooth tissue, i.e. cartilage covers the bones’ surface and helps free movement of the bones against one another. Whenever any of your joints develop the problem of osteoarthritis, a specific part of one’s cartilage becomes thin, while the surrounding surface becomes rough.
When the cartilage wears out or suffers damage, each of the tissues present in the joint becomes highly active than the normal condition. This is because; your body takes certain steps to repair the wearing out of the cartilage. The repair procedure may change the joint structure and allows the regular functioning of the joint even without any stiffness or pain.(1)
What Is The Best Treatment For Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis cannot be cured completely but doctors have come up with certain treatment procedures to manage the underlying symptoms effectively. These include the following-
Medications To Treat Osteoarthritis: Doctors recommend for the following medications to relieve your pain and other related osteoarthritis symptoms.
Acetaminophen: Acetaminophen has helped many people suffering from osteoarthritis, especially the ones who experience mild and moderate pain.
Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs: Over the counter types of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, like naproxen sodium and ibuprofen may relieve the pain associated with osteoarthritis. However, you may get strong NSAIDs only via prescriptions. Alternatively, you may avail NSAIDs in the form of gels to apply on the skin across your affected joint to relieve your OA symptoms.
Duloxetine: Doctors have approved duloxetine as an effective medicine to deal with chronic pain associated with osteoarthritis.
Therapy To Treat Osteoarthritis
Qualified therapists recommend managing the symptoms of osteoarthritis based on following therapy treatments.
Physical Therapy: Physical therapist may recommend you certain exercises to strengthen your muscles across the joint, reduce pain, and increase the flexibility. Regular exercise in the form of walking or swimming may help you to manage your underlying symptoms easily.
Occupational Therapy: Your occupational therapist may assist in finding simple and easy ways to complete your daily tasks without bearing any stress on your painful joint. For instance, a bench in the shower may relieve your pain related to standing if you suffer from knee osteoarthritis.
Surgery And Other Procedures To Treat Osteoarthritis
If you do not get any benefit from conservative treatment procedures, you should look for other options, which include the following-
Corticosteroid Injections: Corticosteroid injections may give relief to joint pain. During this method, the doctor numbs the respective joint area to place a needle in the space in your joint to inject the medicine. A patient may get only three or four cortisone injections in one year.
Hyaluronic Acid Injections: Hyaluronic acid injections may give relief to the pain by providing cushioning to some extent in the knee. The reason behind the use of hyaluronic acid is that it has an almost similar type of component, as you may find in the fluid of your joint.
Knee Osteotomy Procedure: If osteoarthritis causes damage to a particular side of your knee only, you may get relief from the procedure of knee osteotomy. Accordingly, your surgeon makes cuts across your bone below or above the knee and later on, adds or removes a bone wedge. Knee osteotomy procedure shifts away from your body weight from your worn-out area of the knee.
Joint Replacement Surgery: Known as arthroplasty, in joint replacement surgery, the surgeon will remove the damaged surfaces of the bone joint and replace it with metallic and plastic parts.(2)
Conclusion
The best treatment associated with the disease of osteoarthritis depends on your underlying condition and the extent of your experienced pain.
Also Read:
- Link Between Rheumatoid Arthritis and Your Mental Health
- Does Cold Weather Affect Osteoarthritis & What Triggers An Osteoarthritis Flare-Up?
- How Do You Stop Osteoarthritis From Progressing & Does It Hurt All The Time?
- What Are The 4 Stages Of Osteoarthritis & At What Age Does It Begin?
- Will Osteoarthritis Cripple Me & Can It Cause Fatigue?
- Which Is Worse Osteoarthritis Or Arthritis & Is Osteoarthritis Hereditary?
- What is Thumb Arthritis & How is it Treated?: Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis of Thumb Arthritis
- Exercising With Arthritis
- Self-Care Tips For Osteoarthritis Patients
