6 Nonsurgical Treatment Options for Your Osteoarthritis

When you begin to have pain in one or more of your joints, it could be due to osteoarthritis. Surgery may become necessary but isn’t the go-to when you’re first diagnosed. 

At The Spine and Orthopedic Center of New Mexico in Roswell, Dr. Omar Osmani offers several nonsurgical treatments to relieve the symptoms of osteoarthritis.

What is osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis is a chronic disease that can affect any joint but usually targets larger joints like your knees, hips, and ankles.

This condition breaks down the protective tissues and cartilage that cover your bones to prevent wear and damage. Although joint wear-and-tear is normal as you get older, osteoarthritis accelerates it.

Several symptoms are associated with osteoarthritis, including joint pain. Other signs of this progressive disease include:

• Stiffness 
• Swelling 
• Decreased range of motion
• Tenderness
• Instability in your joint
• Clicking noise in your joint

In the early stages of osteoarthritis, you may not have any symptoms. As the disease progresses, you may experience more pain and stiffness in the affected joint.

Understanding your treatment options

Joint pain from osteoarthritis varies from mild to severe. Early treatment is the best way to avoid further damage to your joints, and plenty of nonsurgical options exist, including the following six:

1. Physical therapy

Physical therapy is a vital component of arthritis treatment. It combines therapeutic exercise, stretching, and tissue manipulation to ease discomfort and improve mobility. Physical therapy improves your range of motion and overall joint function.

2. Medications

Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory and pain medications help decrease osteoarthritis symptoms. Our providers may also prescribe medications.

3. Steroid injections

Corticosteroids are powerful anti-inflammatory medications that quickly relieve osteoarthritis-related pain. Our providers offer steroid injections when physical therapy and over-the-counter medications haven’t worked.

4. Viscosupplementation

A thick substance called hyaluronic acid (HA) coats your joint cartilage and makes it slippery and lubricated. Osteoarthritis not only wears away your cartilage but also the HA coating. In this case, we may treat your joint with viscosupplementation, an injection that replaces lost HA and eases friction and inflammation related to osteoarthritis.

5. Bracing

We use bracing and other assistive devices to stabilize your joints. We evaluate your joint to determine what type of bracing is right for you.

6. Regenerative medicine

We also offer platelet-rich plasma (PRP) for osteoarthritis. PRP is a type of regenerative medicine that uses the platelets in your blood to stimulate your body’s healing powers in the affected joint. These treatments often successfully relieve mild-to-moderate symptoms of osteoarthritis, but you may need several treatments. 

However, if these measures don’t relieve your symptoms, we discusse your surgical options to relieve pain and restore joint function through arthroscopy or joint replacement.

Don’t suffer from the symptoms of osteoarthritis — call our office in Roswell today at 575-623-9101 or book an appointment on our website using our convenient scheduling tool.