Exploring Non-Surgical Knee Pain Relief

Knee pain caused by osteoarthritis can keep you from enjoying your favorite activities.  Once, your best treatment option would have been a total knee replacement surgery. But the surgery is expensive and invasive; afterward, you'd face a long recovery, and you might not find adequate relief afterward. As such, many people hoped for a non-surgical alternative. And, today, however, that's available thanks to medications such as semaglutide that have recently been proven to reduce knee pain, as well as with genicular artery embolization (GAE), a minimally-invasive procedure that reduces or eliminates osteoarthritis knee pain without general anesthesia or stays overnight in the hospital. Learn all about this and other treatment options in today's post.

Semaglutide as a Non-Surgical Treatment for Knee Pain

New research published in The New England Journal of Medicine revealed that a once weekly dose of Ozempic, Wegovy or a generic semaglutide could provide knee pain relief when patients have osteoarthritis and are obese. However, this medication is unlikely to prove effective in individuals who are already at a healthy weight. For that reason, these patients may wish to explore GAE as a non-surgical treatment option.

Genicular Artery Embolization: Non-Surgical Relief for Knee Pain

For many patients, GAE is a better knee pain treatment than knee surgery. Why, because the procedure is less-invasive and non-surgical, complication risks are minimal risk for complications. Avoiding overnight hospital stays and general anesthesia also makes GAE less expensive than surgery, and insurance will usually cover the procedure.  Plus, by addressing inflammation, a key cause of osteoarthritis knee pain, it can effectively improve your quality of life by reducing pain and boosting mobility.

Inside the GAE Procedure

To perform the Genicular Artery Embolization, we direct a catheter to target the genicular arteries around your knee, then we deposit embolic material that will reduce blood flow to those arteries. With less blood flow comes less inflammation, allowing most patients to experience knee pain relief and improved mobility after GAE.

Inside the Post-GAE Recovery Period

Most patients resume normal activities a few days after starting their GAE recovery. But knee pain relief will first start 4-6 weeks after GAE. (Results will improve further over time.) Plus, because the procedure is minimally invasive, discomfort after GAE is typically mild, usually manageable with over-the-counter pain medication.

Do you want non-surgical knee pain relief? Do you want to treat knee osteoarthritis with an alternative to surgery? GAE could be your best treatment option. Click here to request a consultation at the Georgia Knee Institute, and we’ll review your candidacy for genicular artery embolization.