Knee pain…the probability that you experience or will experience knee pain or know someone who
suffers with knee pain is above average. Knee pain due to osteoarthritis is a shared condition around
the world. Back And Neck Care Center encourages our Severna Park chiropractic
knee pain patients to exercise. We know we sound like a broken record when it comes to
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 around the world. Knee OA and Hip OA
are two of the most common types with knee OA being the most
common. The goal of treatment of OA is management and decline
of symptoms, not cure. Drug approaches include NSAIDs while
non-drug approaches incorporate exercise (walking), aerobic
exercise, weight loss, diet, hot/cold therapy, electrotherapy to enhance
muscle strength and lessen joint pain. Surgery
(arthroscopy and joint replacement therapy) was explained to be
a last treatment option. The authors of this report emphasized
that precautions to keep joints healthy and disease-free were advisable
and necessary. (1) Those are desirous
goals.
DESIRED RESULTS OF TREATMENT FOR KNEE OA
How do you determine if an intervention is of
value to your pain? Your hoped for outcome
rules. For osteoarthritis, one of the main
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 addressing 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 see as
making the treatment worthwhile to have undergone. For patients
with osteoarthritis who went through non-surgical treatments,
the amount of knee flexion they could do after treatment was from
3.8 to 6.4 degrees. Other pertinent information researchers uncovered
from the 72 studies they analyzed was that a rise
in flexion was associated with decreased pain
and improved function. (3) These are positive outcomes!
…AND WHAT ABOUT PLASMA-RICH PLATELET THERAPY?
In the non-surgical realm of treatment for knee
osteoarthritis, platelet rich plasma (PRP)
injection has grown in availability
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 didn’t change 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 did
not prove to be better than
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 Back And Neck Care Center
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
effective gentle, adapted protocols of The Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management in treating the osteoarthritic knee! A
beneficial, relieving treatment approach to include
along with exercise!
Schedule your Severna Park chiropractic
appointment today. From what we read, it looks 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 your knee.