Osteoarthritis of the knee is a very common problem today. It creates a burden on the individual in terms of pain and suffering as well as health care costs. It also has a significant impact on quality of life. The two main risk factors for knee osteoarthritis are overweight and  an increased knee adduction moment. This moment is a force related to the angle of the knee that increases forces loading the knee.

Exercises to strengthen the knee muscles are useful in the early stages. Drugs such as glucosamine and anti-inflammatory drugs are also usually helpful. As the arthritis progresses, more physiotherapy is also usually needed. Eventually if it progresses to a severe stage, knee replacement surgery is often used

Lately a lot of attention has been paid to the use of lateral wedges in the shoe for medial knee osteoarthritis. Lateral wedges cost less than a few dollars and are simply wedges placed in the shoe to change the alignment of the foot which changes the direction of forces at the knee. Lateral wedges will only work for medial arthritis, which primarily affects the inside of the knee and will not help lateral knee osteoarthritis. Research has shown that lateral wedging generally do improve the symptoms in a subgroupd of people.

More on lateral wedging for knee osteoarthritis

Podiatry Arena

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