Arthritis treatment for knees

Most often, it is the osteoarthritis that is attacking the knee joint.  This is termed as the “wear and tear” degenerative form of arthritis. The pain felt in knee may be acute because the joints in the knee would support the weight of the body. Arthritis treatment for knees should be started immediately as soon as a diagnosis has been made, so that the symptoms would be manage and to minimize the damages to the joints caused by the disease.

Arthritis treatment for knees

Arthritis treatment for knees would include pain killers and anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce the pain and prevent the swelling of the joints. The use of painkillers should be regulated because if the patient will always use a painkiller, even if the pain is still tolerable, there would come a time that the patient would need higher doses of pain reliever. The patient has the option to apply hot and cold compress to the knee to reduce the swelling of the joints and to stop pain.  The cold compress should be applied to the knee first and after a few minutes, change the cold compress to a hot compress to let the blood resume its application. Capsaicin ointment or cream made from cayenne peppers and other red chilies applied on the knee would block the nerves sensor thus the pain will no longer be felt for a while. If the pain would return then you can just apply the capsaicin ointment or cream again. This natural and external arthritis treatment for knees could be safer rather than always taking painkillers.

Modification of exercises or activities can be a good arthritis treatment for knees. For example, if you are a jogger and you developed knee arthritis, you shouldn’t continue jogging because it would create impact on your knees that would just aggravate the symptoms in the knees. What you can do is to go for an alternative activity like swimming and cycling, since these two forms of exercises have minimal impact to the knees. Doing these exercises regularly could help the patient retain mobility and range of motion, because inactivity of the joints might cause muscle loss and strength of the bone as well. Utilizing the use of walkers and canes could help support the knee joints so as not to put too much strain to the knees.  Maintaining a healthy weight is advisable so that the joints will not have additional strain and pressure in supporting excess pounds. If a patient is overweight, doctors would really recommend gradual but necessary weight loss.

Surgical options are also available like partial knee replacement, total knee replacement and knee osteotomy. Most surgical options are successful and the patients who underwent these surgeries were recommended to undergo sessions with a physical therapist so that there would be faster healing and the patient will be able to regain mobility of the joints after a few months.

If you are diagnosed with knee arthritis, you should discuss your available treatment options with your doctor so that you will be able to manage the symptoms of arthritis and would be able to get on with the normal things that you do every day.