Significant improvement of knee pain with diabetes!

According to RCO News Agency, A well -known diabetes drug significantly reduces knee arthritis pain.

A new study shows that a major diabetes drug reduces pain and stiffness and improves performance in overweight people with knee arthritis.

Effective reduction of pain and improvement of mobility may mean that people with this disease can delay the aggressive knee replacement surgery.

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and can be a challenge for treatment, as effective treatment options are available.

More than half of patients with knee osteoarthritis are overweight or obese, which puts a lot of pressure on their knee joint and causes inflammation that both contribute to the progression of the disease.

Now in collaboration with the Faculty of Preventive and Medical Medicine of the University of Monash (Monash), the Menzies Institute of Medical Research at Tasmania University and the Rheumatology Department at Alfred Hospital (Alfred), MetFormin, which is one of the primary treatments for diabetes, can be reduced even in diabetes.

Professor Flavia Cicuttini, head of the rheumatology department at Alfred Hospital and head of the musculoskeletal department at the University of Monash and the author in charge of the study, said: “General practitioners are very familiar with metformin, which is a low -cost and safe drug.” In addition to other treatments that people with diabetes, it can also be provided to patients with arthritis and has the potential to delay knee joint replacement before absolute need.

He added: “In people who consume metformin and have less knee pain and can have more physical activity, knee replacement surgery can be delayed.”

Current treatments for painful knee arthritis focus on relieving symptoms and improving knee joint function.

In addition to pain relief drugs such as non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), non -surgical treatments include exercise, weight management, physiotherapy and steroid injection into the joint.

Treatments including surgery also varies from low invasive arthroscopy for removal or repair of damaged tissue to knee joint replacement surgery.

The researchers selected four overweight and non -diabetic individuals over the age of 5 who had knee pain for 6 months or more and randomly divided them into two groups.

The treatment group took up to 5 mg of slow metformin pills daily for 6 months. Another group was given placebo with a similar appearance. The drug started at a dose of 5 mg daily and increased to 5 mg daily within 2 weeks to reduce gastrointestinal side effects.

Participants can use acetaminophen (paracetamol) for significant knee pain. Participants’ pain was initially assessed from “painless” (zero score) on one side to the “worst painful pain” (score 1) on the other.

The initial consequence of this study was the change in knee pain after 6 months of the feeling of basic pain. Secondary consequences also included basic changes in stiffness and joint performance and quality of life related to health.

Participants reported a 3.5 -point reduction in knee pain for 6 months after consuming metformin for 6 months compared to a 3.5 -point reduction in the placebo group.

The effect of this drug is generally considered average. While the effect cannot be considered “much”, the work here is still indicative of a significant difference between the two groups.

In addition to the less pain, people in the treatment group also reported significant improvement of stiffness and knee function compared to the placebo group. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of change in quality of life.

Side effects were reported in the consumer group (2 %) and placebo (2 %), but none of them were serious. The most common side effects include mild to moderate diarrhea and abdominal and gastrointestinal discomfort.

Researchers say the findings show that “metformin” can be used as part of the treatment of arthritis after discussion between the patient and the physician.

“Metformin” has been known so far and is currently used to treat diseases other than type 2 diabetes.

“Metformin” affects the knee in a variety of ways, including the effect of low -degree inflammation and other metabolic pathways that are important in knee arthritis, “says Sykotini. This is a different way to treat knee arthritis pain.

Metformin is safe and tolerable and is used safely in other non -diabetic conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome. Metformin can be easily and safely provided using a remote health approach, as we did in our study. This means that it can be offered to all society.

Larger clinical trials confirm the reports reported in the present study.

This study is published in the journal JAMA.

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