Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis Management: A Review of Current and Emerging Non-Pharmacological Approaches

Abstract

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Pain Keywords Pain I Rehabilitation I Self-management I Behavior I Occupational therapy I Physical therapy Opinion statement Osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of disability in the USA. Numerous clinical practice guidelines specify non-pharmacological strategies as the core management approach for OA. Although several of these strategies are efficacious, clinical practice remains primarily focused on analgesic use and invasive treatments such as joint replacements. This practice gap may be due to several factors such as a lack of accessibility or awareness of nonpharmacological interventions in clinical care, concentration on pain alone-which neglects other disability-related symptoms such as fatigue, and sleep difficulty, and placement of prevention and wellness with this lifelong disease as lower priority on the part of providers and payers. As referral patterns to rehabilitation for OA are scant, future research should focus on how to package established non-pharmacological interventions and increase accessibility at the point of care when patients are seeking services. Providers then would have the means to link patients to the plethora of community resources for OA management. Furthermore, a more holistic approach to symptom management that targets physical activity, diet, education, and behavior change is needed, with interdisciplinary healthcare professionals playing a larger role in tailoring non-pharmacologic interventions to individuals.

Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis of Health State Utility Values for Osteoarthritis‐Related Conditions

“…These findings align well with previous research (35) advocating a relatively higher efficacy of hip OA joint surgery. Only 2 studies (both based on the EQ-5D) investigated HSUVs in hip OA core intervention patients, which aligned well with the previous findings of the dearth of studies measuring the HSUVs in patients using hip OA core interventions (36,37). No studies on hip OA medication and injection treatments were identified in our review as expected (38,39), hence, no meta-analysis for these treatments was possible.…”

The Role of Inflammation in the Pathogenesis of Osteoarthritis

“…Patients with osteoarthritis have typical clinical symptoms, such as severe joint pain, stiffness, and significantly reduced mobility, leading to decreased productivity and quality of life among the patients, as well as increased socioeconomic burden to the patients and the society [5]. As the prevalence of osteoarthritis increases with age, the aging population worldwide makes this disease a nonnegligible issue [6]. Current therapies for osteoarthritis are limited to symptom-relieving drugs and total knee arthroplasty for severe cases.…”

Healthcare Utilization and Knee Osteoarthritis Symptoms among Urban Older Malaysian

“…This finding is supported by previous studies [ 26 , 45 ]. This finding could be explained by the fact that most of the knee OA symptoms are successfully managed using conservative treatments, and people with knee OA are frequently referred to outpatient care facilities for comprehensive management and care [ 46 , 47 , 48 ]. In addition, people with knee OA are frequently referred to outpatient care facilities for continuous management and care [ 46 , 47 , 48 ].…”