Therapy goals
- Pain relief
- Improvement of mobility
- Improvement of walking performance
- Improving the quality of life
- Delay the progression of osteoarthritis
Therapy recommendations
Depending on the severity of the disease and individual problems, the following medications can be used:
- Analgesics (painkillers)
- Non-acid analgesics
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs; non steroidal anti- inflammatory drugs, NSAIDs).
- Selective COX-2 inhibitors (e.g., etoricoxib).
- Opioid analgesics
- Glucocorticoids as ointments, intraarticular/into the joint, systemically if necessary.
- Chondroprotectants (cartilage protectants).
- Other medicines
- See also under “Other therapy“.
- Postoperative:
- For prophylaxis of periarticular (around a joint) calcifications: Indometacin or ibuprofen; for 14 days.
- Thrombosis prophylaxis