Knee Realignment & Other Treatments for Patellofemoral Osteoarthritis

How do you treat osteoarthritis behind the kneecap?

Does patellofemoral osteoarthritis always require surgery?

No. There are several ways to treat osteoarthritis behind the kneecap without surgery. You may need to combine several of them to effectively alleviate pain. Options include:

  • Anti-inflammatories: Recent research has called into question the long-term use of anti-inflammatory drugs (such as ibuprofen) but short-term use should not cause problems and may help you manage pain until other measures take effect.
  • Weight loss: Weight can have a significant effect on the development of osteoarthritis and losing weight can help delay progression. If you are overweight, try losing weight to reduce the stress on your joints.

>   Discover more about patellofemoral osteoarthritis

  • Exercise: Not only can it support weight loss, but exercise has been shown to have a positive effect on osteoarthritis. With patellofemoral osteoarthritis, it’s important to ensure this exercise is low impact, so if you usually hit the gym or run, you might want to switch to walking or swimming.
  • Activity modification: If there are certain activities that cause your knee pain to get worse, consider stopping them or altering the way you approach them.
  • Steroid injections: Steroidal injections such as cortisone can have a powerful and relatively long-lasting pain-relieving effect.
  • Physiotherapy: Strengthening the muscles around the knee can help relieve stress on the knee joint when you move.

If the above prove unsuccessful, or if over time their effect lessons as the osteoarthritis progresses, you may need to explore surgical options at our Gloucestershire knee consultancy.

Patellofemoral osteoarthritis and surgery

The type of surgery that’s most appropriate for you will very much depend on the diagnosed cause of the osteoarthritis and its severity.

Where, for example, osteoarthritis affects not just the area around the kneecap but other compartments of the joint, a total knee replacement may be the best option.

Where the arthritis has been caused by some form of misalignment between the patella and the trochlear groove in which it sits, a form of realignment surgery known as an osteotomy may resolve the problem.

What is an osteotomy?

An osteotomy involves realigning or reshaping bones to help correct or prevent damage from osteoarthritis. There are several types of osteotomy. A tibial tubercle osteotomy, for example, involves taking a strip of bone from the shinbone and securing it in a new position that enables the patella to sit lower in its groove. This form of osteotomy will be used to treat patella alta.

Recovering from an osteotomy

You can expect to stay in hospital for a night or two following osteotomy. You may need crutches in the days following surgery to help take the weight off your knee joint. A course of physiotherapy will help build the strength of your knee joint. Full recovery may take several months.

Knee surgery in Cheltenham, Gloucester and the Cotswolds

If you’re experiencing pain at the front of the knee, talk to Alex Dodds, knee consultant for Gloucestershire.

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Appointments

To make an appointment please either fill in the contact form and you will be called back by our secretary to arrange a convenient appointment time or get in touch directly.

Call Chrissie Holmyard 01242 246549 at Nuffield Health, Cheltenham.