Nowadays few hospitals and doctors advertise that if your knee hurts you just replace it with our best price offer. Does it really need of the hour? Does every knee pain due to osteoarthritis requires knee replacement? Simply the answer is NO. Like every disease knee osteoarthritis also have four stages (stage I, II, III, IV).
And partial or total knee replacement is the treatment at stage IV with exhausted conservative treatment options and a WOMAC score of 90/96. So, there is a series of conservative treatments options as patients with knee osteoarthritis generally live more than30 years with the disease.
1. Daily exercise and normal pace walking are recommended for all stages of the disease as it helps in producing joint fluid
2. Oral and topic analgesics is recommended for symptomatic relief of pain
3. USG guided Intraarticular Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is the new age regenerative therapy, that prevents further joint damage and regeneration of cartilage by providing a supra-physiologic concentration of growth factors and cytokines. It is recommended for the early stages (I and II, sometimes III) of the disease.
4. Intra-articular Visco supplements only acts as a lubricant for short term relief of joint pain.
5. Intraarticularsteroids nowadays is not recommended.
6. Knee replacement(partial or TKR) is the gold standard treatment for stage IV.
7. Cooled radiofrequency ablation of the genicular nerves is another interventional treatment option at stage III and IV when one patient is not fit for surgery due to poor medical condition, post-TKR knee pain etc.
In conclusion, it is your knee; be knowledgeable and make your own decision regarding the treatment. Like every domestic cruelty does not result in divorce among married couples, every knee pain does not require the replacement of the knee. It is time to accept the evidence-based non-surgical treatment option rather than jump on directly to TKR.