Knee pain…the chance that you have
or will have knee pain or know someone suffering with knee pain is above average. Knee pain caused
by osteoarthritis is a shared condition around
the world. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC encourages our La Grande chiropractic
knee pain patients to exercise. We are well aware that we sound like a broken record on
exercise, but exercise is still ‘king’ when it comes to knee pain
care! And other new knee pain studies tout a few new
treatment methods to try, too.
OSTEOARTHRITIS
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease of degenerated cartilage or
wear and tear damage to cartilage resulting in
disability and other health problems impacting over 500 million
adults globally. Knee OA and Hip OA
are two of the most common types with knee OA being the most
common. The objective of treatment of OA is management and decrease
of symptoms, not cure. Drug approaches consist of NSAIDs while
non-drug approaches incorporate exercise (walking), aerobic
exercise, weight loss, diet, hot/cold therapy, electrotherapy to improve
muscle strength and reduce joint pain. Surgery
(arthroscopy and joint replacement therapy) was explained to be
a last treatment option. The authors of this paper concluded
that precautions to keep joints healthy and disease-free were suitable
and necessary. (1) Those are desirous
goals.
DESIRED RESULTS OF TREATMENT FOR KNEE OA
How do you determine if an intervention is helpful to your condition? Your hoped for outcome
rules. For osteoarthritis, one of the major
diseases that hinders us humans, walking for pleasure was found
by data collected for the Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) to be
statistically significant for tackling knee
osteoarthritis at the genetic level. (2) Today’s researchers are also working to define just what “minimal clinically important
change” is, what the minimum improvement a patient like you would perceive or say made going
through the treatment was of value. For patients
with osteoarthritis who underwent non-surgical treatments,
the amount of knee flexion they could perform after treatment was from
3.8 to 6.4 degrees. Other pertinent information researchers found
from the 72 studies they analyzed was that an increase
in flexion was linked to decreased pain
and improved function. (3) These are positive findings!
…AND WHAT ABOUT PLASMA-RICH PLATELET THERAPY?
In the non-surgical realm of treatment for knee
osteoarthritis, platelet rich plasma (PRP)
injection has become more available
alongside traditional exercise for knee OA pain. A randomized control trial contrasted
three treatment combinations PRP injection alone (three weekly
injections), exercise alone (6 weeks program/12 sessions of strengthening and
functional exercise), and PRP with exercise. At 24 weeks post
treatments, the PRP did not impact pain in
mild-to-mode knee OA patients compared to exercise alone.
As a matter of fact, the exercise alone group outcomes were
clinically superior for function and health related quality of life. Even
though the PRP increased cost to the combined treatment, it didn’t show itself to be superior to
exercise alone either. The researchers concluded with
the statement that exercise alone was recommended to reduce pain
and enhance function. (4) Certainly, more studies will continue
to document the impact of such treatments as PRP.
CONTACT Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC
Listen to this PODCAST
on Osteoarthritis of the Knee with Dr. Luigi Albano on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr.
Michael Johnson as he details the
effectiveness of the gentle, adapted protocols of The Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the osteoarthritic knee! A
helpful, relieving treatment approach to incorporate with exercise!
Schedule your La Grande chiropractic
appointment now. From what we read, it seems like
exercise is still ‘king’ in dealing with osteoarthritis of
the knee. We can help you find the right exercises and even incorporate
some distraction to help the knee.