Osteoarthritis, What Are The Treatments? - Dr. Ruderman (VIDEO)

Dr. Ruderman:
For degenerative arthritis or osteoarthritis we actually have two really focussed areas, actually three in terms of treatment. First there is symptomatic therapy, medications that can reduce some of the pain and the inflammation associated with this, most common being a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications like Naproxen or ibuprofen, for example.

Physical therapy can also help quite a bit for degenerative arthritis. The joint is more than just the bones and the cartilage. It is actually the whole structure around the bone and the muscles and the tendons and the ligaments, with physical therapy by strengthening a lot of those structures can actually provide more support to the joint which lessens the impact on the bones and actually lessens a lot of the symptoms of arthritis.

And then finally when degenerative arthritis gets so bad that medication and physical therapy can’t really provide enough relief, we have joint replacement surgery now where an artificial knee or artificial hip is implanted, replaces the damaged tissue and actually reduces the pain dramatically.

About Dr. Ruderman, M.D.:
Dr. Eric M. Ruderman, M.D., is associate professor in the division of rheumatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. He is also a board member of the Arthritis Foundation of Greater Chicago.

Dr. Ruderman graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York, New York. He completed his residence at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and his fellowship training in rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Visit Dr. Ruderman at the Feinberg School of Medicine

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• Osteoarthritis