Knee Pain and Arthritis – Not as bad as you think!
Knee pain due to osteoarthritis (degeneration) is a common problem we see in the clinic, and there are lots of misconceptions out there about it!
Did you know… modern evidence is showing that surgery for knee osteoarthritis is often not as effective as we once thought.
Knee Arthritis and Exercise
It’s also a common myth that exercising when you have knee arthritis is dangerous. This isn’t true, and in fact exercise is an effective treatment! Sometimes exercise may be painful, but most types of exercise will not cause damage or increasing ‘wear and tear’ on the joints.
Exercise actually stimulates growth and healing in cartilage and improves joint lubrication - we love the saying “motion is lotion”.
High Value Care
A recent article has encouraged people to try ‘high value’ care before considering invasive treatment options like surgery. What does that mean? If you have pain due to knee osteoarthritis, ‘high value’ care means:
- targeted exercises to improve your hip and knee strength, balance and flexibility, and
- lifestyle changes like weight loss and increasing general physical activity.
“High value” physical care is the most likely treatments to benefit you.
Other treatments like massage, dry needling, foam rolling, and ultrasound don’t seem to help long term, but they are safe and non-invasive so they may help you to manage knee pain while also engaging in the ‘high value’ care. It’s recommended you only consider injections, arthroscopy and knee replacement surgery after you have given ‘high-value’ care a red hot go!
At Hilton Chiropractic we treat knee problems, and would love to help you get symptoms of knee osteoarthritis under control. Please call if you have a query or question, one of our chiropractors or staff should be able to help.
Regards Dr Sasha A.
Reference: Caneiro JP, O’Sullivan PB, Roos EM, et al. Three steps to changing the narrative about knee osteoarthritis care: a call to action. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2019. https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2019/09/03/bjsports-2019-101328.