Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Medical Management for Osteoarthritis


v Treat psychological and/or social factors
v Educate patient about disease
v Reduce pain, distress and disability
v Positive coping mechanisms

Physical measures
v Weight loss
v Exercise for strength and stability
v Hydrotherapy (especially for lower limb)
v Local heat, ice packs, massage, rubifacients local NSAID gels
v Complementary medicine

Medication
v Should only be used in severe disease
v Analgesics
v NSAIDs used intermittently
v Some NSAIDs said to increase cartilage damage, while others are ‘chondroprotective’, though these claims remain unproven
v
Intra-articular corticosteroid injections à short term improvement
v Frequent injections into same joint should be avoided
v Chondrotin sulphate and glycosaminoglycan à efficacy unproven

No comments: