“I was very sad when I had to stop tennis. Life wasn’t the same,” says Phyllis Hyacinthe. She didn’t want to accept the fact she could no longer play tennis because knee osteoarthritis got the best of her.

“All the motions I have to go through to play tennis strained my knees and as a result, the cartilage began to wear out,” says Phyllis. And she knew she was in trouble when she couldn’t walk up, or down stairs. “Coming down stairs became an excruciating task,” Phyllis recalls.
In spite of the potentially severe symptoms, new research in the latest Archives of Internal Medicine shows many knee osteoarthritis patients like Phyllis will choose a treatment that poses a lower risk of side effects over treatments that will be more likely to have a significant impact on their day to day lives.
Capsaicin—a topical agent—was preferred by 44% of participants, despite being described as less effective than the other drug treatments.
According to Dr. Matthew Orenstein of Mt. Sinai Medical Center,
“There are only certain types of patients that have been found to stick with it and be able to tolerate it. About a third of patients will get a burning sensation which will feel like the skin is on fire.”
Patients were particularly fearful of adverse side effects, especially stomach ulcers. Non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines, like Motrin, the most widely prescribed class of medication for arthritis patients, were found to be the least-preferred option in almost all circumstances.
This suggests that patients are scared of medicines. In many cases this is unnecessary, especially when the risk of ulcer associated with anti-inflammatory drugs is relatively low. “It’s about one to two per cent if they took it on a daily basis for an entire year,” reports Dr. Orenstein.
Dr. Orenstein explains that doctor-patient communication is key to a patient making the correct treatment choice. “What we’re talking about here is informed consent. The person has to feel like they have time to speak with their doctor and they should feel that they can have all their questions answered,” says Dr. Orenstein.
Phyllis decided to get a knee replacement, a definitive cure.
It’s something most active people might consider as the prime treatment.
“I started playing tennis two months ago. I would say to me it’s a miracle,” says Phyllis.
For more information about treatment of knee osteoarthritis, click here:
http://www.arthritis.org/

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