Agree
Thanks
Orthopaedic Surgeon
There are many aspects to managing the pain from osteoarthritis of the knee. Non operative measures include;
Pain killers
simple analgesics ( such as panadol or panadol osteo),
anti inflammatory medication such as nurofen, voltaren or Indocid)
stronger medication such as panadeine forte and endone
Weight loss
To take the stress off the knee
Muscle strengthening
this can be through;
Physiotherapy
Hydrotherapy or simple exercises such as waling/swimming and riding a bike
Avoid activities that upset the knee
Nutriceuticals - there is a lot of talk about Glucosamine, fish oil, krill oil etc but little evidence for them. Glucosamine has a very large randomised trial in the Lancet that did show some improvement.
Injections
prednisolone, Symvisc, Durolane, PRP and Orthokine have all been used with variable results.
When the pain becomes severe, when you start waking at night and other options do not help then you should consider surgery which would normally involve either a partial knee replacement or Full knee replacement.
Occasionally in young patients we would consider realigning the knee in an operation called an Osteotomy .
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