Which therapy works best for knee arthritis?

Knee braces, water therapy, and exercise are the most beneficial non-drug therapies, per meta-analysis of more than 100 clinical trials involving nearly 10,000 people

2025-06-18

(Press-News.org) Knee braces, water therapy and exercise are the most promising non-drug therapies for treating knee osteoarthritis, according to a new meta-analysis publishing June 18, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Yuan Luo of the First People’s Hospital of Neijiang, China.

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common and often debilitating condition that affects millions of older adults, causing pain and stiffening of the knee joint. Treatment often includes anti-inflammatory drugs, which are linked to gastrointestinal and cardiovascular adverse events.

In the new study, researchers examined the current evidence on non-drug therapies for treating KOA. They looked at data from 139 clinical trials involving nearly 10,000 people to compare 12 different non-drug treatments. These included laser therapy, electrical stimulation, braces, insoles, kinesiology tape, water-based therapy, exercise, and ultrasound. By combining results from all these studies into a powerful network meta-analysis, the team could rank the therapies based on how well they worked.

Knee braces came out on top across most categories, including reducing pain, improving function, and relieving stiffness. Hydrotherapy—exercises or treatments performed in warm water—was particularly effective at easing pain and general exercise was also consistently effective, improving both pain and physical function. High-intensity laser therapy and shock wave therapy showed some benefits, while ultrasound consistently scored the lowest in effectiveness.

The authors caution that differences in study design, small sample sizes, and variability in treatment duration between the 139 included studies may limit the precision of the rankings. However, they conclude that physical therapy has promising effects on KOA, offering potential treatments without the risks of anti-inflammatory drugs. Future studies should examine the clinical efficacy of combined therapies, as well as their cost-effectiveness.

The authors add: “Knee braces, hydrotherapy, and exercise are the most effective non-drug therapies for knee osteoarthritis. They reduce pain and improve mobility without the gastrointestinal or cardiovascular risks linked to common pain medications. Patients and clinicians should prioritize these evidence-based options.”

“Our analysis of nearly 10,000 patients reveals that simple, accessible therapies like knee bracing and water-based exercise outperform high-tech options like ultrasound. This could reshape clinical guidelines to focus on safer, lower-cost interventions.”

In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/4k88Qsw

Citation: Chen X, Fan Y, Tu H, Luo Y (2025) Clinical efficacy of different therapeutic options for knee osteoarthritis: A network meta-analysis based on randomized clinical trials. PLoS One 20(6): e0324864. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324864

Author countries: China

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Seeing through a new LENS allows brain-like navigation in robots

2025-06-18

QUT robotics researchers have developed a new robot navigation system that mimics neural processes of the human brain and uses less than 10 per cent of the energy required by traditional systems. In a study published in the journal Science Robotics, the researchers detail a new system which they call LENS – Locational Encoding with Neuromorphic Systems. LENS uses brain-inspired computing to set a new, low-energy benchmark for robotic place recognition. The research, conducted by first author neuroscientist Dr Adam Hines along with Professor Michael Milford and Dr Tobias Fischer, all from the QUT Centre of Robotics and the QUT School of Electrical Engineering and Robotics, uses ...

Organ sculpting cells may hold clues to how cancer spreads

2025-06-18

A new study from scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reveals that the cells shaping our organs may be far more mobile and coordinated than once believed. Using fruit flies as a model, researchers discovered that future muscle cells crawl across the surface of the developing testis and actively sculpt it into its final form. These dynamic cells don’t work alone, they coordinate their movements using a communication system previously typically associated with brain development. “While most organs are thought to be shaped by static, brick-like cells, our study highlights the powerful role of dynamic, migrating cells — and how ...

Wildfires that keep us inside might drive the spread of infectious disease, per study of the U.S. West Coast wildfires of 2020

2025-06-18

Wildfires that keep us inside might drive the spread of infectious disease, per study of the U.S. West Coast wildfires of 2020, highlighting indirect health impacts of extreme weather events. ### Article URL: https://plos.io/4mXg1FC Article Title: Disruption of outdoor activities caused by wildfire smoke shapes circulation of respiratory pathogens Author Countries: Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, United States Funding: Research reported in this publication was supported by the Fritz-Family fellowship program to SB and GP. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation ...

Catching excitons in motion—ultrafast dynamics in carbon nanotubes revealed by nano-infrared spectroscopy

2025-06-18

Summary Excitons--bound pairs of electrons and holes created by light--are key to the optoelectronic behavior of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). However, because excitons are confined to extremely small regions and exist for only fleeting moments, it has been extremely challenging to directly observe their behavior using conventional measurement techniques. In this study, we overcame that challenge by using an ultrafast infrared near-field optical microscope that focuses femtosecond infrared laser pulses down to the nanoscale. This advanced approach allowed us to visualize where excitons ...

New research proposes framework to define and measure the biology of health

2025-06-18

A new paper from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Butler Columbia Aging Center, and Columbia Irving Medical Center introduces a scientific framework for understanding the biological foundation of health—what the researchers term Intrinsic Health. Published in Science Advances, the study lays the groundwork for measuring and promoting health itself, rather than merely treating disease. Titled “Intrinsic Health as a Foundation for a Science of Health,” the paper defines intrinsic health as a field-like state that supports the body’s ability to maintain internal balance across dynamic biological ...

Earliest evidence of humans in the Americas confirmed in new U of A study

2025-06-18

Vance Holliday jumped at the invitation to go do geology at New Mexico's White Sands. The landscape, just west of Alamogordo, looks surreal – endless, rolling dunes of fine beige gypsum, left behind by ancient seas. It's one of the most unique geologic features in the world. But a national park protects much of the area's natural resources, and the U.S. Army uses an adjacent swath as a missile range, making research at White Sands impossible much of the time. So it was an easy call for Holliday, a University of Arizona archaeologist and geologist, to accept an invitation in 2012 ...

Tracking microbial rhythms reveals new target for treating metabolic diseases

2025-06-18

The gut microbiome, a vast assortment of bacteria and other microorganisms that inhabit our digestive system, plays a critical role in converting food into energy. Many of these microbes follow rhythmic cycles of activity throughout the day. However, high-fat diets and other factors can disrupt these rhythms and contribute to metabolic disease. A new study by researchers at University of California San Diego and their colleagues used time-restricted feeding (TRF), an intervention that limits dietary intake to a short time window each day, to restore microbial rhythms in mice fed a high-fat diet. By analyzing ...

Funding for Public Health Law teaching announced

2025-06-18

Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health is pleased to announce funding awards to support the teaching of Public Health Law at U.S. schools of public health. Part of a CDC-funded initiative designed to improve capacity for local health departments and increase knowledge of law among the next cadre of public health graduates, the “Teaching Public Health Law in Accredited Schools and Programs of Public Health” project is led by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health Faculty Magda Schaler-Haynes, JD, MPH, and Heather Krasna, PhD. The project is housed within The Center for Public Health Systems in ...

Addictive use of social media, not total time, associated with youth mental health

2025-06-18

NEW YORK, NY (June 18, 2025)--Addictive use of social media, video games, or mobile phones—but not total screen time—is associated with worse mental health among preteens, a new study by researchers at Columbia and Cornell universities has found. The study, published June 18 in JAMA, examined the social media use of nearly 4,300 children, starting at age 8, and how use changed over the next four years. Addictive use of screens—excessive use that interfered with schoolwork, home responsibilities, or other activities—was ...

Hey Doc, you got something for snails?

2025-06-18

Kyoto, Japan -- Sea cucumbers spend their lives prowling the ocean floor, scavenging for food and generally minding their own business. We can see snails leading similar lives, slimy but not bothering anyone. Yet some species of tiny sea snails are a bother: they are common parasites of sea cucumbers. Extensive taxonomic research has been conducted on these host-parasite interactions in Japan, where sea cucumbers are a seafood delicacy -- for humans. Despite these previous studies, however, local species richness still contains some unknowns. Parasites of the sea cucumber species Holothuria atra have been thoroughly investigated, but those of Holothuria leucospilota have not. This is ...