- Your knee moves because of cushion between your Thigh bone and Leg bone called “Cartilage”
- Osteoarthritis happens whenthe cushion wears off with time and decreasing the gap causing bone to rub & cause pain and stiffness
- Rubbing of bones leads to extra bone growth sideways which appears as osteophytes/bone spurs
Common treatmentsfor Osteoarthritis of Knee
- Lifestyle changes- Switch from high impact exercises to low impact exercises (from running to cycling/swimming)
- Weight loss- A loss of 1 kg body weight will decrease approx. load of 2-3 kg per knee while your body is in motion
- Muscle specific exercise- Strengthening of your quadriceps and hamstrings builds up the muscle cushion around knee and protect the knee
- Medications- PainKillers / NSAIDs /Steroid Injections (for Pain relief) /Dietary Supplement (Glucosamine and Chondroitin sulphate) / Viscosupplement Injection (Hyaluronic Acid) – All these measures give you relief and slow down the process of knee damage but CANNOT bring back cartilage to normal condition
- Surgery- Osteotomy (in early stages) / Unilateral (Partial) Knee Replacement/Total Knee Replacement
TAKE CARE, ONCE DAMAGED KNEE CANNOT BE REVERTED TO NORMAL
Dr Saurabh Bansal
MBBS, D. Ortho, DNB Ortho, MNAMS