{"id":68968,"date":"2023-04-05T10:41:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T16:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=68968"},"modified":"2025-12-11T07:47:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T14:47:11","slug":"study-search-for-best-knee-osteoarthritis-pain-treatments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/study-search-for-best-knee-osteoarthritis-pain-treatments\/","title":{"rendered":"A search for the best treatments for knee osteoarthritis pain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The most frequent victim of osteoarthritis is the knee joint, which bears an outsized burden for activities like standing, bending, walking, running and hiking. Photo: Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For millions of people in the United States, creaking, cracking and grinding are unwelcome notes in the soundtrack of advancing age.<\/p>\n

The nagging noises are the result of arthritis<\/a>, which painfully inflames and deteriorates the joints, tissues and bones around them. The more than 100 forms of the disease<\/a> affect nearly 60 million Americans. The most common form is osteoarthritis, which results primarily from joint wear-and-tear and inflammation.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Larry Moreland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOsteoarthritis is part of the reward we get as we get older, although some people may have other things that trigger it before they get older,\u201d said Dr. Larry Moreland<\/a>, professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology<\/a> at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Moreland treats patients with osteoarthritis and other forms of arthritis in the UCHealth Rheumatology Clinic \u2013 Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The most frequent victim of osteoarthritis is the knee joint, which bears an outsized burden for everyday activities like standing, bending, walking and running. Those demands generate chronic and debilitating pain for millions of people. Some turn to opioid medications for short-term but risky relief. Joint replacement surgery helps many, but it\u2019s not indicated for all patients, and many endure persistent pain after the procedure.<\/p>\n

Moreland leads a study<\/a> at the University of Colorado \u2013 Anschutz Medical Campus that addresses these dilemmas. It examines the effectiveness of various forms of non-narcotic and non-surgical treatments in treating knee osteoarthritis pain. The goal: develop evidence to guide clinicians in selecting the pain-relieving treatment best suited to their patients.<\/p>\n

An opportunity to combat knee pain<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The national multi-center trial, dubbed SKOAP<\/a>, sponsored by Johns Hopkins University, in collaboration with the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases<\/a>, is the largest study of osteoarthritis knee pain yet undertaken. It is part of the National Institutes of Health-funded HEAL initiative<\/a>, which funds projects across the country that target the opioid addiction crisis.<\/p>\n

The SKOAP study design calls for two phases, both of which aim to measure changes in pain intensity after treatment. The first phase features \u201cconservative\u201d treatments composed of three components. Patients are randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups.<\/p>\n

The groups include:<\/p>\n