Introduction

Osteoarthritis can make your joints feel stiff and painful. But there are treatments that can help.

We've brought together the best research about osteoarthritis and weighed up the evidence about how to treat it. You can use our information to talk to your doctor and decide which treatments are best for you.

Osteoarthritis is a condition that affects your joints. It's the most common joint problem: about 1.5 million people in the UK have osteoarthritis. When you hear people, particularly older people, saying their arthritis or rheumatism is bothering them, they usually mean osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis can make your joints stiff and painful. It's most common in the joints in your knees, hips, hands, and spine. Some people find that osteoarthritis makes it hard for them to do everyday things, such as getting out of chairs, reaching high shelves or combing their hair.

Unlike other types of arthritis, osteoarthritis only affects your joints. It does not have an effect on any other part of your body.

Osteoarthritis can't be cured, but there are treatments that can ease the symptoms.

Key points for people with osteoarthritis

• It's most common in older people.

• Osteoarthritis is the most common joint problem. As many as 2 in 10 people over the age of 60 have osteoarthritis.

• The parts of your body most commonly affected by osteoarthritis are the joints in your knees, hips, hands, and spine.

• Most people don't have a severe form of the condition. Only a few will need surgery to replace an affected joint. Surgery can work very well, but it doesn't work for everyone.

What is a joint?

To understand osteoarthritis, it helps to know how your joints work.

A joint is where two bones meet. Some joints don't move.

Osteoarthritis only affects joints that move, like your hip and knee joints.

You can't see most of your hip joint from the outside of your body, but it's where your thigh bone (doctors call it the femur) meets your hip bone (part of the pelvis).

The top bit of the thigh bone is shaped like a ball, and the bottom of the hip joint is shaped like a socket. The way these bones fit together allows a lot of movement at your hip joint. It allows you to sit, kick a ball and climb stairs.

This joint is formed by your thigh bone (femur), shin bone (tibia) and knee cap (the patella).

This type of joint is called a hinge joint because it allows your knee to move in the same way a hinge on a door allows the door to move.

Joints are designed to cope with walking, jumping and other repetitive movements. They are made of the following things.

• Cartilage: This is a hard, slippery material that coats the end of a bone where it meets another bone. Cartilage allows bones to move smoothly without rubbing together. It also helps to stop too much stress being put on any one part of the bone. This stops bones from shattering when pressure is put on the joint: when you stand on one leg, for example.

• Capsule: The parts of bones that join to make a joint are held together in a capsule. This is fibrous tissue that is made stronger in places by thicker bands of tough tissue called ligaments.

• Muscles: Muscles around the joint help keep it in position and control its movement.

• Synovial membrane: The joint capsule has a lining called the synovial membrane, which makes a fluid called synovial fluid. This fluid lubricates the joint and helps it to move smoothly. It also feeds the outer area of the cartilage and keeps it healthy.