By Ganit Segal, MPE, MBA, EVP — Chief Scientific & Innovation Officer of AposHealth
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 365 million people live with knee osteoarthritis (OA), a condition that causes chronic pain and impairs mobility.
While there are treatments that people can use to manage their pain, many have limitations that impede their effectiveness.
Understanding the options available is essential for those seeking to live more efficiently with OA.
OA has more effects than just the nuisance of pain. A failure to address OA pain appropriately can have significant impacts on a person’s physical and mental health.
For example, someone who becomes sedentary to avoid their pain may lose the health benefits of a physically active lifestyle, while those who disrupt their regular activities due to their pain may suffer from isolation and mental health problems.
Pharmaceutical treatment for OA
As is often the case with painful conditions, the immediate instinct for treating OA-related pain is medication.
However, one must remember that OA is a common condition that will affect a patient for the rest of their life.
Solutions like pain medication simply mask the symptoms of OA temporarily, failing to address the reason why patients are suffering pain.
NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are common in the management of OA for many people.
Unfortunately, NSAIDs have some side effects, such as gastrointestinal issues, cardiovascular risks, and kidney damage. As a result, they aren’t a long-term solution for OA pain management.
In more severe cases, patients may turn to prescription medications, such as opioids.
While these medications can be very effective at relieving pain temporarily, they do not help improve joint function or mobility.
Beyond that, they also come with a high risk of dependency and addiction. Because of this, most patients should avoid using opioids to manage their OA pain.
Another common treatment for OA pain is corticosteroid injections, which can provide temporary relief and improve mobility on a short-term basis.
However, studies have shown that corticosteroid shots contribute to disease progression and are currently conditionally recommended by the societies in the care-management guidelines and only after discussing the option with a physician and understanding the risks.
Over time, this can accelerate joint deterioration, meaning that, like other pharmaceutical treatments, they are not a sustainable strategy.
These risks and limitations of medications make it evident that they are not viable, long-term solutions for the pain of knee osteoarthritis.
Non-invasive solutions are a critical alternative for patients, whether they cannot safely take pain medications for an extended period of time or otherwise cannot risk the consequences of this approach.
Non-pharmaceutical treatments for OA
In the early stages of an OA diagnosis, some people may turn to bracing and orthotics to ease their symptoms and help restore mobility.
By redistributing forces on the knee and providing key joint support, bracing and orthotics can temporarily relieve pain and allow people to resume more of their normal daily activities.
However, because these devices do not address the root cause of the condition, they may cause the patient to become reliant on them.
Some people may turn to assistive devices like canes or walkers for support, which can be instrumental in helping patients with OA maintain their mobility despite their condition.
They also serve as important safety devices, as they can reduce the risk of falling due to instability.
However, since they do not improve function or gait in the long term, they will not contribute to any improvement and are often a sign of the disease progressing.
The key similarity between these treatments is that they address movement efficiency, but do not address the root cause of the pain.
The most effective solution would be one that addresses the cause, as this will allow them to manage their pain more effectively over time.
One of the leading causes of OA pain is a patient’s gait — their way of walking.
When a joint is painful, the body naturally compensates by altering how it moves.
This leads to unbalanced muscle use, joint misalignment, and additional strain on surrounding areas like the lower back, hips, and knees.
To improve long-term outcomes, people with OA need biomechanical and neuromuscular retraining to restore proper movement patterns, reduce joint stress, and improve function.
Thankfully, wearable medical devices are available that patients can use to improve their gait patterns and retrain neuromuscular function, which can improve mobility and reduce pain.
These devices can also be used from the comfort and convenience of one’s own home since they can be worn for just two hours a day as people go about their daily routine.
However, it is important to note that the efficacy of these solutions depends on adherence and proper use by the patient.
That said, if patients use biomechanical and neuromuscular retraining devices according to their specifications, they can benefit from the increased mobility and pain relief those devices provide.
Although OA is a common condition, that does not mean that people should have to allow it to interfere with their daily lives.
They may just need a non-surgical solution to live their life on their own terms.
Ganit Segal holds an MBA and a master’s degree in life science, with a specialisation in biomechanics and has more than 15 years’ experience in medical research including various clinical trial methodologies, scientific publications with over 35 publications in peer-review journals and substantial experience in scientific reviews including global clinical trends and guidelines, comparative analysis and more.
Since 2017, Ganit began laying the company’s foundations to collect and analyze big data in order to support post-marketing clinical activity and ongoing account management and improve patient care.
Original press release: https://agetechworld.co.uk/mobility/managing-knee-osteoarthrisis-to-live-better-every-day/
