Knee arthritis is the single greatest cause of chronic disability among adults in the United States. Many factors can lead to knee pain—arthritis, excessive foot pronation, muscle fatigue, even injury—but we have good news for you: Most chronic knee pain is preventable. The New England Journal of Medicine recently found evidence suggesting that exercise and […]
Knee osteoarthritis, common among older adults, occurs when cartilage in the knee breaks down. That allows the bones to rub against one another, causing pain, swelling, stiffness and decreased mobility. Drugstore shelves are filled with supplements containing chondroitin and glucosamine that promise healthier joints for those suffering from knee osteoarthritis. These supplements may sound like […]
For years, runners have been warned that their favorite fitness activity puts them at risk for future arthritis. Today, however, many experts say that is not the case. While some studies have suggested that athletes who train rigorously may experience eventual deterioration of the leg joints, others have concluded that adults who run recreationally are […]
More than a million surgeries are performed every year to help people suffering from arthritis of the knee. While such surgery is sometimes the best option, two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine, one in 2002 and one in 2008, found that physical therapy and medications can be just as effective as […]
Do you have a bump on the wrist your physician called a ganglion cyst? These soft-tissue fluid-filled lumps are usually harmless, generally painless and often go away on their own. Ganglions can occur in any joint and may result from arthritis or from injury due to repetitive stress activities. If the cyst is painful, interferes […]
Arthritis may be a joint disease, but strengthening the muscles is an important component in its treatment. That is because a leading cause of limited movement in people with arthritis—especially, for instance, knee arthritis—is the weakening of surrounding muscles, rather than pain, dysfunction or abnormalities in the joint itself. This raises an important question: Is […]
You and a friend both have rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but your treatment regimens are very different. You wonder why, for are not all cases of RA basically the same? Broadly speaking, any incidence of RA occurs because the body attacks its tissues as if they were foreign bodies. This is the hallmark of an autoimmune […]
For people who suff er from arthritis, surgery using a compression screw can treat the condition in the foot and ankle. In this procedure, two sides of the joint are roughened, and the two bones making up the arthritic joint are fused, using a screw. After the area is immobilized with a cast, the body is […]
Here’s the catch-22 of physical therapy: Reducing pain requires physical work, but physical work can cause pain that makes it extremely difficult to do that work. Patients with arthritis of the knee joint often find that using a brace allows them to perform strengthening exercises more easily. But some people wrongly believe that a brace […]
If your doctor says you have arthritis in your knee, does that mean you will need knee replacement surgery? The short answer is not necessarily. Fortunately, your body can compensate for the loss of function caused by arthritic damage to cartilage and bone in a knee joint, even if x-ray evidence seems to indicate that […]
