Are There Ways To Treat Knee Or Hip Joint Pain Using Alternative Medicine?

— -- Question: Are There Any Effective Ways To Treat Knee Or Hip Joint Pain Using Alternative Medicine?

Answer: Alternative medicine is definitely a possibility in treating refractory hip or knee pain. I would probably suggest more of the traditional types of treatment initially for knee or hip pain.

There are a lot of patients that reach a certain point when they feel frustrated because they're not getting better. Their hip and knee pain continues to be there in spite of use of medications and even injections.

One of the options that they have includes surgery, but a lot of people don't want to think about that. So then we start talking about alternative medicine.

There are homeopathic-type medications that have been used in the East for a long time that have been beneficial. But there haven't been a lot of studies that have proven conclusively that they work. Some people, however, will say that they've tried them and they work well and so that's something that I'm open to.

One of the other things that people have tried for refractory pain, including with the use in hip or knee pain, includes acupuncture. Some people have had very, very good results with acupuncture for all kinds of pain including hip and knee pain.

Again, I think that more research needs to be done to actually evaluate the evidence behind it.

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