What Is Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common forms of arthritis. OA is sometimes called degenerative joint disease or “wear and tear” of the bone joints. When the protective tissue at the ends of bones (cartilage) breaks down, joints can get painful, swollen and hard to move. OA can happen at any age, but it commonly starts in the 50s and affects women more than men. This disease starts gradually and worsens over time.
What Are the Symptoms of Knee Osteoarthritis?
If you have osteoarthritis of the knee, you will probably feel your knee is painful and stiff at times. It may only affect one knee, especially if you’ve injured it in the past, or you could have it in both. The pain tends to be worse when you move the joint or at the end of the day. Other symptoms to watch for are swelling in and around the joint, lack of mobility in the joint, and the feeling that the joint is loose or unstable.
As symptoms get worse over time, some activities may be difficult to do such as stepping up, getting in or out of a chair, or even walking across a parking lot. Sometimes people even have pain that wakes them up in the night. You will probably find that the pain varies and that you have good and bad days.
Managing Osteoarthritis of the Knee
There is no cure for osteoarthritis, but there are things you can do for yourself that can make a difference to how the condition affects you. If oral painkillers and lifestyle changes such as exercising and losing weight are not providing you with adequate pain relief, Monovisc® may be a good option to relieve your osteoarthritis knee pain.
Monovisc® is a viscosupplement that contains a gel-like substance manufactured from ultra-pure, non-avian hyaluronic acid that supplements the hyaluronic acid naturally found in the synovial fluid of a healthy knee. Patients with osteoarthritis of the knee can realize substantial benefit from this treatment and it delays the need for joint replacement.
A doctor administers Monovisc® through a single injection into your knee (intra-articular injection). This treatment is called viscosupplementation, and is thought to relieve osteoarthritis knee pain by restoring the viscoelastic properties of the hyaluronic acid found in the knee. Monovisc® has been shown to start providing relief of osteoarthritis knee pain two weeks after injection.
Are you suffering from knee pain due to osteoarthritis? Put an end to your knee pain today by calling Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Institute of New Braunfels at 830.625.0009 to schedule an appointment or Request an Appointment here. Our orthopedic doctors specialize in knee pain and knee replacement surgery in the New Braunfels and surrounding areas.
