At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in February, researchers reported that the risk for disability from osteoarthritis of the knee is just as harmful as the risk for disability from cardiovascular disease.æ
Osteoarthritis researcher Fred Nelson, M.D. said that osteoarthritis of the knee is one of the top five leading causes of disability in elderly men and women.æ
He points out that current treatments do not address the cause of the disease, just the symptoms.
“The feedback of nerve signaling can have a direct effect on the cartilage cell itself,äó Dr. Nelson says. äóìKnowledge of the back and forth messaging between the tissue components may lead to better interventions for pain. But we can’t know that until we start looking at the knee with a broader view.”
So lesson for today – as you explore conventional treatments for arthritis, whether knee replacements, physical therapy, question your physician in terms of underlying causes for this and any other conditions you may have. After all, this would not be the first time that the symptoms and not the underlying cause were treated.