Osteoarthritis
Does knee pain affect your life?
Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee affects 12% of the US population aged 25 - 75. Levels of disability attributable to knee OA alone is as high as that due to cardiac disease and greater than that due to any other medical condition in older people.*
In addition to age, risk factors for osteoarthritis include excessive torque, joint trauma, obesity, excess stress, repetitive joint use or irritation of an un-repaired injury.
Healthy knee and a knee
affected with Osteoarthritis
What is Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease characterized by breakdown of the joint's cartilage, which cushions the ends of the bones. The breakdown of cartilage causes bones to rub against each other, leading to pain, tenderness, swelling and decreased function.
How is knee osteoarthritis treated?
Treatment of osteoarthritis focuses on reducing pain and improving mobility. Because the condition is degenerative, the treatment therapies are progressive and may include several of the following, over time or together.
Osteoarthritis onset (Non-Pharmacological Interventions)
- Use heat or cold for temporary pain relief.
- Exercise to restore joint movement and strengthen the knee.
- Lose weight to reduce wear and stress on the joint.
- Use appliances such as braces, insoles or wedges to reduce the load on the affected compartment.
Early Stages (Pharmacological & Biomechanical Interventions)
- Use aspirin or acetaminophen to reduce pain.
- Take anti infmammatory drugs as instructed by your physician.
- Your physician may prescribe an OA brace to manage the pain, improve function and restore activity.
Mid-Stage (Pharmacological & Biomechanical Interventions)
- Continue the use of an OA brace such as the Unloader.
- Your physician may add glucocorticoids or Hyaluronan injections to improve joint movement.
Advanced Stages (Surgical interventions)
- Osteotomy - correction of malalignment.
- Arthroplasty - Total or partial knee replacement.
Are acetaminophen and ibuprofen good treatments for OA?
For the early stages of OA, analgesics such as Tylenol® (acetaminophen) and anti-inflammatories such as ibuprofen can provide some pain relief. However these drugs do nothing to mechanically protect the knee to reduce further wear.
How does a brace eliminate pain?
OA braces actually provide a biomechanical change to the knee to prevent the pain of bone-on-bone contact. The unique 3 Points of Leverage System in Ossur Unloader braces, for example, helps to unload the affected compartment and reduce wear on the joint.
The Unloader One brace is a simple, well-proven and non-invasive biomechanical method to relieve pain prior to the need for surgery.
An Unloader knee brace in combination with these injections will reduce wear by unloading the compartment and combine the pain reducing affect of both treatments.
Should I consider joint surgery?
OA is degenerative so joint surgery may be in your future.
It offers several potential benefits including better movement and the ability to use the joint pain free.
Before any surgery, it is important to have other health problems under control. If there are lung problems, heart disease, diabetes, bacterial infection or other health problems, surgery may aggravate them and increase the risk of a poor result.
The younger a person is at the time of surgery, the more likely the surgery will have to be repeated later, as artificial joints tend to loosen with time from stress and activity.
How does the Unloader compare to surgery?
The Unloader is not meant to replace surgery as a treatment.
It is designed to reduce pain and slow the degenerative affects of OA, enabling patients to restore function and activities they may have lost due to discomfort.
In one study, the experiences of 119 Unloader patients were measured to evaluate the length of time they were able to avoid surgery. At one year, 89% of the patients were surgery-free. At two years, 80% of this group remained free of surgery.
What can I expect from wearing an Unloader knee brace?
Independent research has shown the Unloader knee brace to be very successful in providing symptomatic pain relief. Given your physician's approval, you should be able to do anything you like. How you feel will be the determining factor in what activities you can do.
Some individuals will wear their brace all day long. Others will wear it only for a specific activity, such as playing sports, gardening, or walking in the mall.
No matter what your routine, you will quickly determine how the Unloader knee brace best works for you.
All the information above has been read and approved by medical doctors experienced in treating knee Osteoarthritis.
*(Guccione AA et al. The effects of specific medical conditions on the functional limitations of elders in the Framingham Study. Am J Public Health, 1994;84:351-358.)