Thursday, June 20, 2013

Osteoarthritis

Table of Contents

Exercise helps maintain joint and overall movement. Ask your health care provider to recommend an appropriate home exercise routine. Water exercises, such as swimming, are especially helpful.

Other lifestyle recommendations include:

  • Applying heat and cold
  • Eating a healthy, balanced diet
  • Getting rest
  • Losing weight if you are overweight
  • Protecting the joints

As the pain from your hip or knee OA becomes worse, keeping up with everyday activities may become more difficult or painful.

  • Sometimes making changes around the home will take some stress off your joints, and relieve some of the pain.
  • People whose work is causing stress in certain joints should find ways to reduce trauma. You may need to adjust your work area or change work tasks.

PHYSICAL THERAPY

Physical therapy can help improve muscle strength and the motion of stiff joints, as well as your sense of balance. Therapists have many techniques for treating OA. If therapy does not make you feel better after 6 - 8 weeks, then it likely will not work at all.

Massage therapy may also help provide short-term pain relief. Make sure you work with an experienced massage therapist who understands how to work with sensitive joint areas.

BRACES

Splints and braces can sometimes support weakened joints. Some prevent the joint from moving; others allow some movement. You should use a brace only when your doctor or therapist recommends one. Using a brace the wrong way can cause joint damage, stiffness, and pain.

ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS

Acupuncture is a treatment based on Chinese medicine. How it works is not entirely clear. Some studies have found that acupuncture may provide short-term pain relief for people with OA.

S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe, pronounced "Sammy") is a man-made form of a natural byproduct of the amino acid methionine. It has been marketed as a remedy for arthritis, but scientific evidence to support these claims is lacking.

SURGERY

Severe cases of OA might need surgery to replace or repair damaged joints. Surgical options include:

  • Arthroscopic surgery to trim torn and damaged cartilage
  • Changing the alignment of a bone to relieve stress on the bone or joint (osteotomy)
  • Surgical fusion of bones, usually in the spine (arthrodesis)
  • Total or partial replacement of the damaged joint with an artificial joint (knee replacement, hip replacement, shoulder replacement, ankle replacement, elbow replacement)

Support Groups

Review Date: 10/28/2010
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)