[Dr. Tomek] "Knee osteoarthritis treatment often starts with lifestyle changes ...

weight loss, improving exercise, becoming more active ... in spite of the knee pain."

[Bill] "It was a no-brainer when I look back on it for the knees.

You've got too much weight. Take some of it off.

So the exercise was very important, and then it was the diet."

[Dr. Tomek] "Over-the-counter medications are initially useful in mild to moderate arthritis, and they can reduce the pain and the inflammation that comes with an arthritic knee."

[Susan] "Sometimes if my knee was really bothering me during the day, I would take some to help relieve the discomfort and pain."

[Dr. Tomek] "If lifestyle changes, exercise, weight loss, over-the-counter medications don't work, then we start looking at things like injection of cortisone into the knee."

[Bill] "I went to a knee doctor and had a cortisone injection.

And it's the best way I can describe it, it's almost like Novocain in your mouth.

It takes rid of the pain for a while, but it won't eliminate it."

[Dr. Tomek] "The effects of cortisone are different in different people.

For some people, cortisone may provide them with months of relief while in more severe arthritis, cortisone sometimes only works for a couple of days or a couple of weeks.

There are other treatment alternatives that are available for knee osteoarthritis that are often referred to as alternative therapies.

These may include things like acupuncture, massage, and the use of pills consisting of chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine.

While the evidence for their use isn't terribly good, some people do have a benefit from these, and there doesn't seem to be a major drawback to at least attempting these."