Knee pain…the likelihood that you have
or will have knee pain or know someone suffering with knee pain is above average. Knee pain due to osteoarthritis is a common condition around
the world. Minster Chiropractic Center encourages our Minster chiropractic
knee pain patients to exercise. We are well aware that we sound like a broken record on
exercise, but exercise remains ‘king’ when it comes to knee pain
care! And other new knee pain research touts 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 affecting over 500 million
adults around the world. Knee OA and Hip OA
are the leading types with knee OA being the most
common. The objective of treatment of OA is management and reduction
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 decrease joint pain. Surgery
(arthroscopy and joint replacement therapy) was described as
a last treatment option. The authors of this paper concluded
that precautions to keep joints healthy and disease-free were advisable
and essential. (1) Those are hopeful
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
is the most important. For osteoarthritis, one of the foremost
diseases that disables 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 establishing
a definition of 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 underwent 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 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 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 after
treatments, the PRP did not change pain in
mild-to-mode knee OA patients weighed against exercise alone.
Actually, the exercise alone group outcomes were
clinically superior for function and health related quality of life. Even
though the PRP added cost to the combined treatment, it didn’t prove to be better than
exercise alone either. The researchers ended their paper with
the statement that exercise alone was recommended to reduce pain
and improve function. (4) Certainly, more studies will continue
to document the efficacy of such treatments as PRP.
CONTACT Minster Chiropractic 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 describes the
effective 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!
Make your Minster chiropractic
appointment today. 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.