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Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthrosis · Artróza

What it is

Joint cartilage wears and the whole joint remodels. The commonest joint disease on earth.

Symptoms & signs

  • Pain worse with use
  • morning stiffness under 30 min
  • creaking (crepitus)
  • swelling
  • reduced range
  • knobbly finger joints

🚩 Get help if…

  • see a doctor soon Hot, red, swollen joint with fever
  • see a doctor soon Joint that suddenly locks or gives way
  • see a doctor soon Pain at night or at rest that keeps getting worse
  • see a doctor soon Weight loss you can't explain, with bone pain

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • Exercise therapy and weight loss — the best-supported treatment there is, relief comparable to NSAIDs trials support
  • Paracetamol barely beats placebo here; topical NSAIDs do better mixed evidence
  • Oral NSAIDs — real relief, real gut, kidney and heart risk when taken for months; rofecoxib (Vioxx) was withdrawn in 2004 over heart attacks its maker had played down mixed evidence
  • Steroid injection — weeks of relief, and repeated injections thin cartilage mixed evidence
  • Joint replacement once pain stops sleep and walking trials support

Natural & lifestyle

  • Strength training around the joint (best single intervention)
  • 5–10% weight loss
  • swimming and cycling
  • heat
  • turmeric/curcumin
  • glucosamine (mixed evidence)
  • walking aids

Emerging & experimental

  • Platelet-rich plasma
  • mesenchymal stem cells
  • cartilage regeneration scaffolds
  • lorecivivint
  • geniculate artery embolisation

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • Boswellia (frankincense) — trials show pain relief mixed evidence
  • Avocado-soybean unsaponifiables — trials show modest benefit mixed evidence
  • Acupuncture — trials disagree; benefit mostly short-term mixed evidence
  • Spa therapy, mud and radon baths (as at Jáchymov or Gastein) — trials show short-term pain relief mixed evidence
  • Magnetic and copper bracelets — trials found no effect not confirmed in trials
  • Gin-soaked raisins — folk remedy; untested anecdotal / traditional

ICD codes