Treating Your Osteoarthritis Of The Knee: Options To Think About
When you have been experiencing knee pain for a long time, it can be a relief to find out what has been going on. Getting a diagnosis of osteoarthritis in the knee means that the pain has a cause and that there are treatments you can try to deal with the situation. Get to know more about some of these treatment options that can help you treat your osteoarthritis of the knee. Then, you can discuss your options with your doctor and come up with a plan that best suits you and your pain management needs.
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, better known as NSAIDs, are medications that you can get over-the-counter or via prescription. These medications are designed to reduce inflammation throughout the body and are also pain relievers. Because of this, they are often the first line of defense against osteoarthritis pain in the knee or elsewhere.
However, by the time many people receive a diagnosis of osteoarthritis, they may have been trying to use these medications for a while with little to no success. If the dosages or new NSAIDs that your doctor recommends do not improve things, you may need additional treatments to improve your knee pain.
Stem Cell Treatment
One of the newer treatment options available for osteoarthritis of the knee is stem cell therapy or treatment. Stem cell treatments are a unique way of reducing inflammation in the knee joint, relieving the pain of osteoarthritis in the process.
This treatment starts with the extraction of stem cells, which can be done through fat cells or through bone marrow. The stem cells are then separated from the rest of the tissue and concentrated. A doctor will then inject those stem cells into the knee joint.
The idea behind this is to help with inflammation, of course, but also that the stem cells will become healthy cartilage cells in the knee joint. This helps to undo some of the damage of osteoarthritis to the knee joint. For more information about knee pain stem cell treatments, talk with a medical professional.
Knee Replacement Surgery
Another option to deal with osteoarthritis knee pain, especially if the osteoarthritis is quite painful and/or advanced, is knee replacement surgery. This procedure involves the removal of the joint and replacing it with artificial materials to help reduce pain and inflammation in the surrounding tissues.
The cartilage as well as the bone in the joint will be removed in the process, and metal and plastic replacements are put into place. Sometimes, doctors can do just a partial knee replacement, though and leave the bones intact. It all depends on the extent of the damage from the degenerative osteoarthritis.
Now that you know some of the options to consider when you have osteoarthritis of the knee, you can be ready to talk to your doctor about which treatments may be right for you.