Knee Osteoarthritis: Chronic, But Manageable

Osteoarthritis is caused by changes in the structure of the cartilage. Does it have a cure?

The knee osteoarthritis is a chronic disease that progresses always has multiple causes and handling depends on the alteration that occurs in the daily life of the patient.

“As a disease, there is no cure. Once cartilage damage has occurred since a certain stage, there is no going back, there is no medicine to fix it. There are treatments for different stages, the initial ones are not aggressive, even the terminal ones that are aggressive,” indicates orthopaedic in Delhi.

The focus is always on improving the patient's ability to do work and physical activities. If osteoarthritis progresses, the best option would be to think about knee replacement surgery in Delhi.

The knee prosthesis is never the first option, since it lasts between 15 and 20 years, “so if you put it on at 43, you will need a knee replacement in Delhi, which is a major procedure. The ideal is to move forward with all the medical treatments and leave the prosthesis for the last moment, ”says Dr. Ashu Consul, orthopaedic surgeon in Delhi.

Orthopaedic doctor in Delhi adds that not only is the prosthesis expected because of its duration, but because medical technology is advancing rapidly and better elements may appear in the short term. But if the indication, due to the characteristics of the patient, is to go for surgery, you should not wait.

Osteoarthritis of the knee is a problem that affects the 80% of patients over 60 years, who have some degree of it. "The first treatment is conservative, if there is osteoarthritis it means that there are wear and tear of the cartilage and it may be small or progress, therefore, the first thing is to complement the musculature around the knee with exercise and analgesic treatment," says rheumatologist in Delhi.

When is knee infiltration used?

The infiltration is one of the options palliative treatment when acute episodes occur.

"To treat these episodes, local anti-inflammatory drugs are used and other elements, such as viscosupplementation with hyaluronic acid, exert their effect within three to four weeks., improve the mechanical conditions of the joint, improving the quality of the synovial fluid and producing less friction in a time, "orthopaedic doctor in Dwarka explains. In both cases, they are palliative treatments and only postpone the use of prostheses.