The Best Treatments for Osteoarthritis

The most common form of arthritis is osteoarthritis, which is a wear-and-tear disorder that affects your joints. Men and women over the age of 60 are most at risk for osteoarthritis’s classic symptoms — joint pain and stiffness — but young people develop it, too, especially if they’ve been injured in a sports accident or car accident, or experienced another sort of joint trauma. 

Iraj Sabahi, MD, founder of Pleasanton Arthritis and Osteoporosis Medical Center, diagnoses and treats osteoarthritis pain in his Pleasanton and Turlock, California, offices. Depending on the extent of your osteoarthritis, Dr. Sabahi may offer you revolutionary platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy that helps your joints heal themselves.

Do you have osteoarthritis? 

If you have osteoarthritis, the protective cartilage tissue that cushions the ends of your bones is damaged. When your cartilage is damaged, your bones start to grind against one another, causing pain, swelling, and stiffness. Osteoarthritis symptoms occur gradually and include:

• Pain when you move a joint
• Stiff joints after waking up or after a period of inactivity
• Tenderness when you apply pressure to the joint
• Reduced range of motion and flexibility

Women are more likely than men to develop osteoarthritis. You’re also more prone to the condition if you’re overweight or older, or had a prior joint injury.

How to manage osteoarthritis pain

To reduce the pain and stiffness of osteoarthritis, Dr. Sabahi may recommend one or more of the following treatment therapies:

Lifestyle changes

The first step in treating osteoarthritis is to minimize the stress on your joints. You may need to:

• Switch from high-impact to low-impact exercise
• Lose weight to decrease stress on your joints
• Increase activity level to lubricate joints
• Change to an anti-inflammatory diet
• Get physical therapy to strengthen your joints

Physical therapy also strengthens your core muscles and other tissues that support your joints. Your physical therapist shows you how to move to reduce your risk of reinjuring your joints.

Even though moving your joints may feel painful at first, you should continue to be as active as possible. When you move your joints, it releases a special kind of lubricant called synovial fluid that reduces the bone-on-bone friction and helps keep your joints healthy.

Medications

If conservative treatments don't help, Dr. Sabahi may recommend anti-inflammatory medications that reduce swelling and stop the degradation of whatever cartilage is left on your joint. He may also administer both anti-inflammatories and pain medications through intravenous (IV) infusions. An infusion bypasses your gastrointestinal system to reduce the risk of side effects and is easier to tolerate than oral medication. 

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP)

One of the most exciting therapies to emerge in recent years for osteoarthritis and other injuries and conditions is platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Rather than introducing chemicals or drugs to your body, a PRP treatment uses the healing components in your own blood to repair damaged cartilage and other tissues.

Dr. Sabahi or your Pleasanton Arthritis and Osteoporosis Medical Center nurse first withdraws a small amount of blood from your arm. They then process the blood in a centrifuge to isolate the platelets, which are rich with healing growth factors. They inject the PRP serum directly into your painful joint to help subdue inflammation and rebuild injured tissue.

You may need a series of PRP treatments to get full relief. The PRP works with your body to rebuild injured cartilage with new collagen and elastin. The collagen remodeling process may take weeks to months to complete. 

If you’re ready to say goodbye to osteoarthritis pain, call one of our office locations or book an appointment using our convenient online scheduling tool.