Does Physical Therapy Help Treat Knee Arthritis?

Healio’s Orthopedics Today highlights a new article that shows arthroscopy for knee osteoarthritis offered no benefit in reducing or delaying the need for total knee arthroplasty compared with conservative treatment.

Su et al. recently showed that physical therapy and nonsurgical treatments are as good as knee arthroscopy in delaying knee replacement surgery for knee arthritis. Arthroscopy is a relatively small procedure that can “clean-up” the wear and tear debris of arthritis. However, arthroscopy can have better symptom relief for up to 2 years.

Simple Takeaway™: In both the nonsurgical and the arthroscopy groups, the vast majority of patients did not need knee replacement during the 5-year study period.

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Commentary by Dr. Shah MD, JD

Dr. Shah MD, JD is on the Clinical Advisory Board for SimpleTherapy. He specializes in hip and knee reconstruction using minimally invasive techniques for less pain and faster recovery times.

He believes there are many valuable pain-relieving treatments that do not involve surgery. When an operation is needed, he embraces careful surgical techniques with attention to the biological, anatomical, and mechanical restoration that is critical for a pain-free return of function.