Osteoarthritis (Content Program)
How We Can Help You for Osteoarthritis
The board-certified doctors of Stanford Health Care have the specialized training and extensive experience needed to accurately diagnose and effectively treat osteoarthritis. This condition occurs when the cartilage that cushions and protects your joints gradually breaks down, causing damage and pain.
Our multidisciplinary team develops a complete, compassionate care plan customized to your needs. The goal of the plan is to help relieve your symptoms, which may include pain, stiffness, and swelling.
In addition, the plan is designed to support your health and quality of life, so you can enjoy the most active lifestyle possible.
Stanford patients with osteoarthritis also may have opportunities to participate in research studies of new treatment approaches not yet available anywhere else.
What We Offer You for Osteoarthritis
- Center of Excellence for advanced care of osteoarthritis and all orthopaedic conditions.
- Nationally recognized expertise in effectively treating all cases of osteoarthritis, no matter how complex.
- Precise diagnosis including a thorough medical history and physical exam. We also will confirm your diagnosis with blood tests and the latest imaging technology.
- Team-based treatment planning that brings together orthopaedic specialists, physical therapists, and others to tailor care to your needs.
- Advanced treatment options emphasizing noninvasive approaches whenever possible, including medication therapy, lifestyle changes, and physical therapy. When needed, we also offer a full range of surgical options to relieve your osteoarthritis symptoms.
- Comprehensive support services including care coordination from diagnosis to treatment to follow-up.
- Active research program to develop new diagnostic and treatment advances to help people with osteoarthritis.
Treatment for Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, develops when the cartilage that protects and cushions joints breaks down over time. As cartilage deteriorates, the bones rub together when you move the joint, further damaging the cartilage and underlying bone and causing pain and swelling.
Arthritis has many treatments, but what works for someone else may not work for you. At Stanford, we specialize in finding the right treatments for you. Our orthopaedic specialists offer a full range of noninvasive and surgical options to relieve your arthritis symptoms. We work closely with you to develop a personalized treatment plan, taking into account:
- The severity of your symptoms
- How your symptoms affect what you can do
- How well other treatments have worked
- The extent of your joint damage
Our orthopaedists are leading research to bring new and improved osteoarthritis treatments to you, often before they are widely available.
Nonsurgical Treatments
Surgery
Although arthritis has no cure, the right treatment can help slow or limit cartilage damage in your joints. Our specialists offer noninvasive options that can reduce your pain and help you lead an active life, including:
Heat and cold therapy
You can try hot compresses, cold packs, ice massage, or paraffin wax to help reduce pain.
Lifestyle changes
You may reduce your symptoms by improving simple daily routines, including rest, exercise, and diet. Small changes to your lifestyle can have a big impact on reducing joint pressure, swelling, and pain.
Assistive devices and orthotics
These devices support your joints by either limiting movement or taking pressure off your joints. They include tape, braces, splints, and canes.
Pain medicines
We often recommend acetaminophen for pain and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen or naproxen for pain and swelling. Studies show that capsaicin cream can relieve joint pain when applied to the skin over joints affected by osteoarthritis. You may also find relief from duloxetine (Cymbalta), which treats depression but can also relieve chronic arthritis pain.
Physical therapy
Stanford’s board-certified physical therapists at our Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Physical Therapy Clinic can help relieve arthritis pain and prevent injury. Physical therapy increases your strength, flexibility, and balance to help relieve pain and prevent injury.
Occupational therapists
Occupational therapy helps you learn to do every tasks with techniques that are safe and comfortable.
Injections
We may recommend cortisone or hyaluronic injections to relieve pain. The injections typically offer long-lasting relief, but cortisone may result in more damage to the joint. Hyaluronic acid doesn’t damage the joint but may not be as effective as cortisone.
If you have severe cartilage damage and pain after trying conservative treatments, surgery can help. Our orthopaedic surgeons have extensive expertise in both minimally invasive and conventional operations to treat joints affected by arthritis, including:
Arthrodesis (joint fusion)
We use pins or plates to connect the joint bones, preventing the joint from bending. Over time, the joints lock in place, limiting joint flexibility but providing lifelong relief from osteoarthritis.
Arthroscopic surgery
We use small scopes and specialized instruments to look inside the joint and repair or remove cartilage while smoothing out rough bone. This procedure can reduce pain immediately and may help you postpone or avoid joint replacement.
Partial joint replacement (joint resurfacing)
We remove only parts of the joint that are damaged and replace the bones with artificial joints. Most commonly, we perform joint resurfacing in the knees and hips. This procedure may help people with knee damage to return to their daily activities without pain. Joint resurfacing can also help people with hip damage participate in high impact or flexibility-related activities.
Joint replacement
We use minimally invasive techniques to remove damaged hip, knee, shoulder, and other joints. We replace them with artificial joints that retain the limb’s flexibility and movement. Joint replacement may provide long lasting relief from osteoarthritis without comprising flexibility and the quality of your daily life.
Osteotomy
We use conventional surgery to shorten, lengthen, or realign bones by removing or adding a section of bone. Osteotomies may reduce pain, slow bone damage, and help you avoid joint replacement.
Although arthritis has no cure, the right treatment can help slow or limit cartilage damage in your joints. Our specialists offer noninvasive options that can reduce your pain and help you lead an active life, including:
Heat and cold therapy
You can try hot compresses, cold packs, ice massage, or paraffin wax to help reduce pain.
Lifestyle changes
You may reduce your symptoms by improving simple daily routines, including rest, exercise, and diet. Small changes to your lifestyle can have a big impact on reducing joint pressure, swelling, and pain.
Assistive devices and orthotics
These devices support your joints by either limiting movement or taking pressure off your joints. They include tape, braces, splints, and canes.
Pain medicines
We often recommend acetaminophen for pain and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen or naproxen for pain and swelling. Studies show that capsaicin cream can relieve joint pain when applied to the skin over joints affected by osteoarthritis. You may also find relief from duloxetine (Cymbalta), which treats depression but can also relieve chronic arthritis pain.
Physical therapy
Stanford’s board-certified physical therapists at our Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Physical Therapy Clinic can help relieve arthritis pain and prevent injury. Physical therapy increases your strength, flexibility, and balance to help relieve pain and prevent injury.
Occupational therapists
Occupational therapy helps you learn to do every tasks with techniques that are safe and comfortable.
Injections
We may recommend cortisone or hyaluronic injections to relieve pain. The injections typically offer long-lasting relief, but cortisone may result in more damage to the joint. Hyaluronic acid doesn’t damage the joint but may not be as effective as cortisone.
close Nonsurgical Treatments
If you have severe cartilage damage and pain after trying conservative treatments, surgery can help. Our orthopaedic surgeons have extensive expertise in both minimally invasive and conventional operations to treat joints affected by arthritis, including:
Arthrodesis (joint fusion)
We use pins or plates to connect the joint bones, preventing the joint from bending. Over time, the joints lock in place, limiting joint flexibility but providing lifelong relief from osteoarthritis.
Arthroscopic surgery
We use small scopes and specialized instruments to look inside the joint and repair or remove cartilage while smoothing out rough bone. This procedure can reduce pain immediately and may help you postpone or avoid joint replacement.
Partial joint replacement (joint resurfacing)
We remove only parts of the joint that are damaged and replace the bones with artificial joints. Most commonly, we perform joint resurfacing in the knees and hips. This procedure may help people with knee damage to return to their daily activities without pain. Joint resurfacing can also help people with hip damage participate in high impact or flexibility-related activities.
Joint replacement
We use minimally invasive techniques to remove damaged hip, knee, shoulder, and other joints. We replace them with artificial joints that retain the limb’s flexibility and movement. Joint replacement may provide long lasting relief from osteoarthritis without comprising flexibility and the quality of your daily life.
Osteotomy
We use conventional surgery to shorten, lengthen, or realign bones by removing or adding a section of bone. Osteotomies may reduce pain, slow bone damage, and help you avoid joint replacement.
close Surgery
INTERESTED IN AN ONLINE SECOND OPINION?
The Stanford Medicine Online Second Opinion program offers you easy access to our world-class doctors. It’s all done remotely and you don’t have to visit our hospital or one of our clinics for this service. You don’t even need to leave home!
Visit our online second opinion page to learn more.
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are research studies that evaluate a new medical approach, device, drug, or other treatment. As a Stanford Health Care patient, you may be eligible to participate in open clinical trials.
Open trials refer to studies that are currently recruiting participants or that may recruit participants in the near future. Closed trials are not currently enrolling, but similar studies may open in the future.
What is Osteoarthritis?
Our Clinics
You don’t have to suffer. Visit our sports medicine and orthopaedic experts to figure out a treatment plan for painful arthritis, including osteoarthritis. Not all treatments work the same, so let us find the one that works for you.
450 Broadway Street
450 Broadway StreetRedwood City, CA 94063
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