Knee osteoarthritis is a progressive degenerative (wear-and-tear) condition that affects the joint, causing pain, stiffness, and limited mobility.
As the arthritis progresses the symptoms may become more pronounced. All treatments of knee arthritis are focussed on reducing pain and inflammation, improving mobility and thereby improving the quality of life.
In early stages knee arthritis is managed conservatively with medications, lifestyle modifications, braces and physical therapy. As the arthritis becomes more advanced some patients may require a knee replacement surgery. All patients with knee arthritis DO NOT NEED to undergo knee replacement surgery. Patients are suggested knee replacement only if all conservative methods of treatment have been tried and are not providing satisfactory relief.
Some of the non-surgical methods of managing knee arthritis are
-Intra articular injections of Hyaluronic acid also called visco supplementation,
-PRP therapy i.e. platelet rich plasma injections,
-Stem Cell injections (Allogenic stem cells, Bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cell injections, Adipose derived cells etc)
These treatments provide pain relief, improve joint mobility and help to slow down progression of arthritis.
In some patients’ outpatient procedures like radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of genicular nerves are done in addition to provide more consistent and longer-term pain relief.
RFA procedure involves identifying the nerves which carry the pain signals from the knee using fluoroscopy or ultrasound scan, then using radiofrequency energy to ablate the nerves. This is a minimally invasive outpatient procedure. Works well in patients who have moderate arthritis of the knee.
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