Knee osteoarthritis: how to manage it
Knee osteoarthritis becomes commoner with age and extra weight, but many cases improve with exercise, weight loss and the right treatment.
Osteoarthritis is a gradual wearing of the joint cartilage, and the knees are the joints most often affected. It usually appears after forty and is made worse by obesity, previous injuries and work that involves kneeling or many stairs.
Symptoms: pain on walking or climbing stairs that eases with rest, short morning stiffness, a clicking sound, sometimes swelling, and a gradual difficulty bending the knee.
Non-surgical treatment is the basis:
- Weight loss: every kilogram lost reduces the load on the knee several times over.
- Exercises to strengthen the front and back thigh muscles, and flexibility exercises, supervised by a physiotherapist.
- Low-impact activity such as walking on level ground, swimming and stationary cycling.
- Painkillers or local creams under medical supervision and, in some cases, local injections decided by the doctor after examination and X-ray.
- Comfortable shoes, and a walking stick when needed.
When is surgery considered? When severe pain continues despite full treatment and affects sleep and daily movement, and the X-ray shows advanced wear. Options include arthroscopy in selected cases or knee replacement; the doctor chooses what suits you.
When to see a doctor: pain lasting more than a few weeks, repeated swelling, bowing of the legs, or a feeling that the knee gives way suddenly.
This is general health information. It does not replace seeing a doctor and having your own condition examined.
