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Braces Top Best Therapies For Knee Arthritis

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on June 19, 2025.

WEDNESDAY, June 18, 2025 — Throbbing, swollen knees hobble many seniors, but there are many solid means of treating knee arthritis that don’t involve meds, a new evidence review says.

Knee braces, water therapy and exercise all effectively ease the ache of wear-and-tear knee arthritis, researchers reported today in the journal PLOS One.

“They reduce pain and improve mobility without the gastrointestinal or cardiovascular risks linked to common pain medications,” wrote the research team led by senior researcher Yuan Luo of the First People’s Hospital of Neijiang in China.

“Patients and clinicians should prioritize these evidence-based options,” researchers concluded.

More than 10% of people older than 60 have knee arthritis, researchers said in background notes.

That makes simple, cheap treatments a must, especially if they come without the side effects associated with many drugs.

For the study, researchers pooled data from 139 clinical trials involving nearly 10,000 people to compare 12 knee arthritis treatments that don’t involve drugs. These studies focused on knee osteoarthritis, which occurs when cartilage breaks down over time and bones start rubbing together.

Knee braces came out on top, with results showing that wearing the devices can reduce pain, improve function and relieve stiffness.

Exercises or treatments performed in warm water, also known as hydrotherapy, were particularly effective at easing pain, researchers found.

And general exercise also was consistently effective, improving both pain and physical function among patients, the study says.

Exercise options for knee arthritis “are diverse, with aerobic and mind-body exercises showing the most significant benefits for pain and function, while strengthening and flexibility/skill exercises are the next best options,” researchers wrote.

Laser therapy also helped reduce pain, researchers said, and the review also supports the use of shock wave therapy, in which pulses of high-energy sound waves help increase blood flow to inflamed tissue.

On the other hand, ultrasound consistently scored lowest in terms of effectiveness treating knee pain, researchers said.

“Our analysis of nearly 10,000 patients reveals that simple, accessible therapies like knee bracing and water-based exercise outperform high-tech options like ultrasound,” researchers concluded. “This could reshape clinical guidelines to focus on safer, lower-cost interventions.”

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted June 2025

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