Diagnosed With Knee Osteoarthritis? 2 Non-Surgical Treatment Options

If you have been diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis, there is surgery that can help you with this. If you do not want to have surgery, however, there are many non-surgical treatment options to help you. Below are two of these options so you can be pain-free.

Get Physical Therapy

Your doctor may suggest that you see a physical therapist for treatment before surgery is considered. If so, they will suggest the physical therapist you should go to. This is important because the doctor will choose a therapist that they work with. This way the therapist can converse with the doctor about your treatment and outcome. 

The therapist will teach you knee exercises that you can do to help alleviate your pain. These exercises help build muscles in your knee to make your knee stronger while you are walking. They also help to improve your range of motion, which is bending your knee, as well as improve flexibility, which helps when you are moving your knee in any way. 

The therapist will have you do these exercises while they are treating you. They may have you ride an exercise bike to help strengthen your knee. You would start at a slow pace and work your way up. The therapist will give you paperwork showing you how to do the exercises properly at home and tell you how many times per day you need to do them. Over time, your knee will feel pain-free, and you can stop going to the therapist. You should still, however, continue doing the exercises at home. 

Wear Assistive Devices

The doctor may have you wear a knee brace while you are healing. This provides your knee with the support it needs while you are walking. This also reduces stress on your knee to help it heal. The doctor may have you wear a knee sleeve when your knee starts feeling better. The doctor can tell you what you should choose to ensure the tightness is at the right level. 

Along with a knee brace and sleeve, the doctor may suggest that you wear inserts in your shoes. They take a mold of your foot to ensure the insert fits you correctly. 

While you are going through your non-surgical treatments, the doctor can give you crutches to use to keep pressure off your knee. If you are older, you should consider using a walker instead of crutches to prevent you from falling and further injuring your knee as wells as your hip, leg, etc.

Along with these non-surgical treatments, the doctor may prescribe medication to take in the beginning, such as pain medication or an anti-inflammatory. 

Contact a doctor to learn more about non-surgical knee osteoarthritis treatments.

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