Moving Better, Moving Forward
A professional and experienced physiotherapist, Nadine is passionate about providing current best practices for first and second-line treatment of hip or knee OA. The options are so much better now then they used to be!
What should be one's course of action when diagnosed with hip or knee OA or when one is vulnerable to developing it?
There is a very distinct path of care that research has long supported. It is time for the work that we do with our patients to reflect that path.
The path of care includes three lines of treatment, meant to be followed sequentially. Lines 1 & 2 are non-operative and should be fully explored and maximized before moving onto the final line of joint replacement surgery.
As our knee and hip OA treatment approaches become more consistent and streamlined, one can hope that those who need to access the final line of care can do so more quickly as those who are successfully managing their OA joints with the first two lines continue to do so.
For many years, good research has advised how hip and knee osteoarthritis should be managed. Guidelines have been very consistent in the following recommendations:
We know that too many hip and knee OA patients don't receive adequate exposure to the long-term tools to self-manage their arthritic joints. Luckily, the tide has really turned in recent years.
