In a great summary found here, the team from JAMA summarized hundreds of medical research studies. If you have knee arthritis, these things work:
- Physical therapy
- Low impact exercise (swimming and stationary bike)
- NSAIDs like Aleve and Motrin
- Weight loss
- Total Knee Replacement
These things really don’t work and I don’t give them to my patients:
- Shoe inserts
- Glucosomine
- Chondroitin
- PRP (platelet rich plasma)
- Stem-cell treatments
- Gel injections
The bottom line:
If you have knee osteoarthritis, keep moving. Activity and gaining muscle strength are the best solution.