Retirement. It’s a milestone that many people can’t wait to reach. Instead of working nine to five, there are golf games to be had, sights to see and trips to take. One thing that could hold you back? Achy joints.

More than 50 million adults have been diagnosed with some form of arthritis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By 2030, this number is expected to jump to 67 million. Osteoarthritis – the loss of joint cartilage – is by far the most common and can leave weight-bearing joints like the knees in constant pain.

“It’s an epidemic in our country,” says Sheryl Lipnick, DO, an orthopedic surgeon with Adventist GlenOaks Hospital. “The good news is that more people are addressing it now than in the past because they want to stay active for as long as possible.”

A sign of the times
The pain from osteoarthritis comes from the progressive breakdown of cartilage – a rubbery material that acts like a shock absorber when you move – causing the knee bones to rub together. “What happens to your joint when you have osteoarthritis is kind of like wearing the tread off of your tires,” Dr. Lipnick says. Other key factors that can wear down cartilage include age, carrying excess body weight and trauma.

Getting to the root of the pain
To diagnose osteoarthritis, doctors take a thorough medical history, discuss symptoms and use X-rays to determine the degree of degeneration of the knee joint. Doctors develop a treatment plan on a case-by-case basis by looking at joint space narrowing, fluid in the joint, bone spurs, hardening of the bone and the patient’s pain level. Nevertheless, there are four general steps of treatment to help relieve osteoarthritis pain.

Step 1: Pain-relieving medications, such as acetaminophen, and anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, reduce the pain caused by osteoarthritis. These medications also come in topical form as gels, patches and liquids that can be applied directly to the joint.

Step 2: When medications start losing their effectiveness, injections are the next line of treatment. Viscosupplementation and steroid injections work by restoring the lost fluid within the joint and reducing inflammation for pain relief that lasts for months.

Step 3: If injections don’t keep the pain at bay, arthroscopy may be the next line of treatment. Arthroscopy is a minimally invasive way smooth out a cartilage defect, trim down a torn meniscus or remove debris from inside the knee joint that leads to osteoarthritis. It can also possibly help delay joint replacement.

Step 4: For patients with severe osteoarthritis, surgery may be the only option. If only a select part of the knee is affected, new technology allows doctors to remove only the damaged part of the knee, called partial knee replacement. Total knee replacement is reserved for the most severe cases of osteoarthritis.

For select patients, your doctor may also suggest physical therapy to provide optimal range of motion. “This is especially important with knee arthritis because studies have shown that range of motion after surgery is directly related to a patient’s abilities before surgery,” Dr. Lipnick says.

An experienced orthopedic team at Adventist Midwest Health can help patients choose the right combination of treatments. “We like the fact that I can help relieve their knee pain so it isn’t the first thing they think about when they wake up in the morning,” Dr. Lipnick says. “The right treatments get patients back on the treadmill or playing golf – things they haven’t been able to do in years because of their pain.”

If knee pain is interfering with your life, call 866-533-7968 to find an orthopedic surgeon.