Osteoarthritis

Objective. DIP joint OA is common but has few cost-effective, evidence-based interventions. Pain and deformity [radial or ulnar deviation of the joint or loss of full extension (extension lag)] frequently lead to functional and cosmetic issues. We investigated whether splinting the DIP joint would i…
m.rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org

The Arthritis Cure may well be a long shot pipe dream. Till then, simple measures like wax bath and splinting can make a huge difference.


Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy may ease pain for patients with knee OA

Patients with knee osteoarthritis who received pulsed electromagnetic field therapy experienced pain…
www.healio.com

Rheumatologists straddle the space between musculoskeletal medicine and immunology, but we are generally more inclined towards biochemistry and physiology than we are to physics and engineering, owing to our undergraduate curriculum. As such, we have a conceptual bias against conditions and therapies which are more mechanical or physics oriented. We can pretty much wrap our brains around chemical equations, and imagine antibodies and cytokines hitting on cells, but our eyes glaze over at the mention of electromagnetic waves or piezoelectric forces. (Orthopods and Radiologists, on the other hand, are more at home with this.)
So papers like this are typically met with much cynicism, perceived as bordering on homeopathy and the metaphysical. It’s an unfamiliarity bias.


Cartilage volume loss was reduced in patients with knee osteoarthritis who supplemented with…
www.healio.com

Rules-of-thumb for supplements:
1) The effect size is small. Otherwise the big pharmas would have gone bust eons ago;
2) The response time is slow. If you’re better by the next day (or week even), it’s definitely not the supplement. Either that, or it contains steroids and/or analgesics;
3) As long as it is safe and affordable, try for 3 months. If it doesn’t “kick in” significantly by then, cut loss and move on.