Managing Osteoarthritis

Treatments for osteoarthritis aim to control pain, to improve the ability to work, to perform everyday tasks, and to maintain quality of life. Currently, there are no treatments that can dependably stop or cure osteoarthritis. Increasingly, treatment has included other goals—namely, to stop and to reverse the biochemical processes of osteoarthritis and to stop the disease from progressing.

In the meantime, there are many treatment options for controlling pain and improving function. The treatments that are the most appropriate for you depend on the joints that are involved, the severity of joint pain, the impairment of joint function, and other conditions that you may have.

The treatments and management tools for osteoarthritis can be organized as a pyramid. At the base of the pyramid are the most important approaches and those that are useful for the greatest number of people with the condition. At the top of the pyramid are treatments that are used only in the most severe or unusual cases.

As the severity of osteoarthritis increases, treatments progress step by step, up the pyramid.