Stopping Knee OA

Arthritis Today—January 3, 2014

Dr. Susan Goodman is a rheumatologist at Hospital for Special Surgery. She specializes in treatment of patients with inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and spondylarthritis. In this article Dr. Goodman discusses the treatment of osteoarthritis.

Q: Is there anything I can do to stop my knee osteoarthritis (OA) from progressing?

A: The best ways to slow down the rate at which cartilage is lost from the knee (or any weight-bearing joint) are really the simple, hard jobs we ask patients to do all the time: Get to a healthy weight and strengthen your thigh muscles. Those are the only two factors that have clearly been shown to decrease the rate of knee OA progression.

This article appeared in arthritistoday.com .