Osteoarthritis (OA) is the wearing away of the cartilage that is kind of a protective tissue on joints and absorbs impacts and ensures fluid, frictionless movement of the joints. Without it, the joints become stiff and moving the joints becomes painful. If you’re going through this, you would want to know if it ever improves, how to treat it, and are primary care doctors helpful. Read this guide and consult an internal medicine doctor for help.
Does Osteoarthritis Ever Improve?
Osteoarthritis can’t be cured in a way that you can’t regrow or repair the damaged cartilage. However, there are conservative and surgical methods to relieve pain, improve mobility, make lifestyle easier, and slow down the progression of the disease.
Not everyone needs or wants to go through a surgical procedure, so conservative methods like physical therapy, lifestyle changes, and others can help. Your internist creates a personalized OA management plan that works for you because there are many ways of doing it and everything doesn’t work for everybody, which is why the role of your doctor and a personal management plan is so critical.
Here’s are the many ways osteoarthritis is managed and treated:
Proper Diagnosis
This is not a treatment mode, but a critical first step because many symptoms of osteoarthritis look like other disorders and diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), gout, fibromyalgia, lupus, bursitis, tendinitis, psoriatic arthritis (PsA), stress fractures, and others. So, X-rays, MRI scans, and some blood tests are performed to rule out other diseases and make sure that it’s osteoarthritis.
Lifestyle Changes
Usually, doctors begin with suggesting lifestyle changes to patients with moderate osteoarthritis pain as they can help immensely without any significant side-effects. These can also be coupled with other treatment methods like medication and/or therapy.
Weight Management
More body weight means more strain on the joints and more osteoarthritis pain. So, managing and losing weight is an effective way of making osteoarthritis less painful and also slowing down the progression of the problem. Weight management is excellent for any joint problem, however, it’s even more helpful in case of weight bearing joints like knees or hips.
Primary care doctors, internists, and rheumatologists usually recommend light exercises and personalized diet plans for losing weight. These two are the other lifestyle changes recommended for managing OA even when weight loss is not required. This shows the importance of these two methods in managing osteoarthritis.
Physical Therapy And Exercises
Your physical therapist creates a well-rounded exercise plan for you depending on the joints that are affected by osteoarthritis. The aim is to strengthen the joints, improve the range of motion, lower pain, and improve your general fitness.
A common myth about physical therapy and exercises is that moving the joints or strenuous exercises can make osteoarthritis worse. This is not true unless the therapy or exercises are performed incorrectly. With the help of a good physical therapist and the patient learning exercises properly, there are only benefits of exercises for OA.
Activities like walking on a flat surface, swimming, and cycling can be helpful in improving the symptoms. Other than that, a physical therapist can show you light exercises you can perform at home for reducing pain, strengthening the muscles around the joints, and improving mobility. This can also include popular methods like yoga and Tai Chi.
Balanced Diet
A balanced diet plan can help you reduce inflammation, manage weight, and improve muscle strength, bone health, and overall fitness. Your doctor may refer you to a dietitian for a diet plan that is designed for you.
However, generally, processed food, sodas, and excess sugar are discouraged, while whole foods, lean protein, nuts, fruits, vegetables, fish, and other natural foods are encouraged.
Supportive Treatments
Hot And Cold Therapy
This is a common method of relieving muscle or joint pain. It works for osteoarthritis as well for managing symptoms on your own at home. It’s commonly recommended because there are no side effects and it’s easy to perform.
Heat usually relaxes stiff muscles, due to this, it’s suggested for fixing morning stiffness of the joints. You can apply heat only for 15 to 20 minutes.
On the other hand, keeping an ice pack on the affected joints lowers blood flow and reduces swelling and pain. You can use ice packs for 10-20 minutes at a time.
If you’re using hot and cold therapy, apply heat for 2-5 minutes and then use ice for the next 1-2 minutes. You can repeat this a few times.
Assistive Devices
Depending on your condition and the affected joint, if there are mobility problems, your doctor or physical therapist may suggest using assistive devices for making your daily activities easier, reducing stress on the joints, and to also manage pain to an extent. They can include canes, walkers, shoe inserts, insoles, orthotics, braces and splints, and other devices.
Therapies And Medications
Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS)
TENS is a non-invasive therapy that reduces pain for the short term in knee and hip osteoarthritis. It uses a small battery that sends a mild current to the affected joint for pain relief. It’s an easy over-the-counter therapy for OA.
Medications
Various types of medicines are suggested or prescribed by internal medicine physicians Rockville for managing osteoarthritis pain, depending on the severity of the condition. Milder ones are over-the-counter drugs like paracetamol (Tylenol) and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). There are also NSAID topical creams considered more effective than tablets as they are applied directly on the skin and have fewer side effects compared to taking medication orally for a long time.
If the pain is severe, your doctor can also prescribe stronger drugs or opioids for relieving pain. They are usually prescribed as a short-term pain relief because taking them regularly can cause side effects and addiction.
Steroid injections
They are corticosteroid injections that are used when other pain relief methods don’t work. A steroid injection is applied to the affected joint for reducing inflammation and pain. They can’t be used regularly as you should only get 3-4 steroid injections a year, if required. So, if you require a more permanent solution, consider a surgical procedure.
Lubrication Injections
Apart from steroids, a lubricant called hyaluronic acid can be injected in the affected joints for reducing friction and pain, and improving mobility. It’s chemically similar to the natural fluid found in joints.
Surgical Methods
Osteotomy (Realigning The Joint)
Osteotomy is common for knee osteoarthritis. A surgeon makes a cut and adds a wedge bone either above or below the affected knee. This shifts weight from the affected joint to the newly created wedge and reduces pain.
Arthroplasty (Joint Replacement)
This is the full replacement of the affected joint. The surgeon will remove the damaged joint and replace it with a metal and plastic joint. This can last for 20 years or so. There are other types of joint replacement procedures as well and the surgeon will discuss the options with you to proceed with the one that is best-suited for you.
However, sometimes, joint replacement can lead to infection and blood clots. There is also a risk of the joint coming loose, creating the need for another procedure for fixing it.
Joint Fusing
If you’re not eligible for joint replacement or there are more benefits to this method than joint replacement, then joint fusing can be performed. It removes the affected joint and fuses the bones without any replacement joint. This eliminates pain but also the mobility of the joint area.
Conclusion
Osteoarthritis can’t be treated but you can manage it with various methods like lifestyle changes, physical therapy, and medication suggested or prescribed by your internal medicine doctor Gaithersburg. And if required, your doctor can refer you to a surgeon for a surgical treatment option.