Rheumatic Disease Clinics of North America

The amount of new information, about the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) that has appeared in recent years is striking. Given the growing body of clinical trial data on a diverse range of OA therapies and the burgeoning interest in OA in general, one might imagine that we treat the disease more effectively today than we did in the past. But do we? Undoubtedly, we can do better. Although it is true that we can treat some patients with OA more safely than we did in the past, many OA patients continue to have significant joint pain and functional limitations despite the use of glucosamine, coxibs, intra-articular hyaluronan, and other treatments.