Knee Osteoarthritis

What is Knee Osteoarthritis?

Knee osteoarthritis is the most common cause of knee pain, especially with age. It involves progressive wear of the articular cartilage and the bone beneath it. As the cushioning cartilage thins, the joint space narrows and the bone surfaces begin to grind, which produces pain, stiffness, and over time a loss of normal movement.

The process is not purely mechanical. Low-grade inflammation in the joint, micro-fractures in the bone, stretching of the joint capsule, and muscle spasm around the knee all contribute to the pain. Central sensitisation, where the nervous system amplifies pain signals, often explains why discomfort can be greater than the imaging would suggest.

Many people have radiological signs of osteoarthritis without much pain, and others have significant pain with only modest changes on X-ray. Because of this gap, we treat the patient and the symptoms, not just the scan.

Symptoms

• Pain around the knee that increases with weight-bearing and movement, and eases with rest
• Morning stiffness that loosens up after a short while
• Swelling or a sense of fluid inside the joint
• Crepitus: a grinding or crunching sensation with movement
• Reduced range of motion and difficulty with stairs or squatting
• A gradual change in knee alignment in advanced disease

How We Treat It

Our first aim is to control pain and protect function without rushing toward surgery. Intra-articular injections are often the most effective starting point. A corticosteroid injection settles an inflamed, swollen joint quickly, while hyaluronic acid viscosupplementation restores lubrication where the natural joint fluid has thinned, typically giving relief over several months.

For earlier or moderate disease, PRP therapy uses growth factors from your own blood to support the cartilage environment and reduce inflammation. We pair every procedure with physiotherapy to strengthen the muscles around the knee, which offloads the worn surfaces and makes the benefit last longer. Weight management, where relevant, reduces the load on the joint and is one of the most powerful steps available.