Treatment of Osteoarthritis

Joint stretching Slow and gentle joint stretching will help prevent stiffness and ease joint movement, particularly in the morning time when joint stiffness usually takes place. Joint stretching may be performed on own at home with instructions from the physical therapist or in recreational style such as yoga or Chinese-boxing dance. Aerobic exercise Aerobic exercise is an important part of osteoarthritis treatment. It helps relieve the pain, enhance the strength of the muscles surrounding the joint, reduce body weight and generally improve joint function. Water exercise such as water walking or swimming makes use of water to support the body weight which helps reduce the loading to the joint while enhancing the strength of the muscles surrounding the joint. Walking is also another good exercise but running that puts weight on knee joints and ankles may cause the pain in the knee joints or ankles to get worse. Weight control Weight reduction helps decrease the development of osteoarthritis and delay the progression of the affected joint(s), particularly the weight-bearing joints such as spine, hips, knees and ankles. Weight reduction also helps decrease blood pressure and blood lipids and improve general health of the body. The principle of the weight reduction is to decrease the calorie content of foods in combination with the exercise. The patient should always consult with a physician before using any weight loss medication and discuss with a physician to get informed about your appropriate body weight. Patient education Understanding of osteoarthritis is a key to the successful treatment. Although it may not completely cure the disease, but you and your physician can assist in controlling the disease. As for the patient, he (she) can help improve the treatment if he (she) Learns about osteoarthritis as much as possible through discussion with his (her) physician. Learns to accept that the ability to perform some routine activities may be decreased and, at the same time, learns with intention to find out the routine activities that still can be performed with happiness, joy and without worsening the affected joint(s). Talks to friends and family members about what osteoarthritis feels like for him (her) so that they can understand about it. Learns to have an optimistic view of the world. Medications include analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, steroid injections, Hyaluronic acid or hyaluronan injection and topical analgesics. Other treatment options include surgery, acupuncture and dietary supplements.