New Hope for Patients Seeking Treatment of Osteoarthritis Knee Pain
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) September 01, 2015 -- MediNatura™, the exclusive U.S. importer of osteoarthritis injections Traumeel™ and Zeel™, has recently sponsored an educational workshop for physician assistants (PAs) practicing in orthopedics. The workshop, titled “Treatment of Osteoarthritis Knee Pain with Combined I.A. Injections of Traumeel™ and Zeel™” was held by Dr. Erick Salado, an orthopedic surgeon at South Florida Bone and Joint Institute, Inc. The framework was the annual conference of Physician Assistants in Orthopaedic Surgery (PAOS), held last week in Chicago.[1]
“There are over 300 million patient encounters by PAs per year. Of those patients, over 50 million are seen for musculoskeletal complaints such as osteoarthritis knee pain,” said Stefan Luft, PhD, national director of sales and medical education, MediNatura™. “Every day, PAs are improving the care of patients with osteoarthritis and are adding incredible value to healthcare teams.”
Osteoarthritis knee pain is one of the most common complaints heard by orthopedic PAs, which is why new treatments in the works are raising so many hopes. “We are committed to making our treatments available to as many patients as possible, and it’s only natural to keep PAs up to date when it comes to our clinical research, since they are at the forefront of patient care,” Luft added.
The current treatment possibilities for osteoarthritis knee pain are not without risks. Steroids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have potentially severe side effects. For example, use of NSAIDs for more than three months is associated with rates of gastric ulceration between 15% and 35%.[2] The elevated risk for cardiovascular events associated with NSAIDs recently prompted the US Food and Drug Administration to issue a stronger warning regarding these drugs.[3,4] As well, a recent study published in The BMJ demonstrated a 60% increase in the 30-day risk for intracranial hemorrhage in individuals taking antidepressants plus NSAIDs versus antidepressants alone.[5]
New hope comes from a natural injection treatment that has been demonstrated to relieve moderate to severe knee pain better than a placebo in a recent clinical study while promising an excellent safety profile.[6] Two homeopathic prescription drugs, Traumeel™ and Zeel™, showed efficacy effect sizes consistent with those observed for widely used knee injections of hyaluronic acid (viscosupplementation), corticosteroids, and oral NSAIDs.[7,8]
The mechanism of action of the Traumeel™ and Zeel™ injections is still under investigation, but preclinical studies suggest that these medications regulate inflammation, reducing osteoarthritis knee pain and stiffness in arthritic joints by modulating inflammatory mediators such as TNF-α and supporting cartilage function.[9]
Sources
1. http://www.paos.org
2. Bjarnason I. Int J Clin Pract Suppl. 2013;178:37–42. Abstract
3. http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm454141.htm Accessed August 13, 2015.
4. Anwar A., John Anwar I., Delafontaine P. Trends Cardiovasc Med. 2015;S1050–1738.
5. Shin J. Y., Park M. J., Lee S. H., et al. BMJ. 2015;351:h3517.
6. Lozada, C., del Rio, E., Reitberg, D. P., Smith, R., Kahn, C., and Moskowitz, R. W. Arth Rheumat 66 (10) Suppl.: S1266 (Abstr 2896)
7. Bannuru et al. Ann Intern Med; 162: 1/6/15:p46–54
8. Lozada, C., del Rio, E., Reitberg, D. P., Smith, R., Kahn, C., and Moskowitz, R. W. Ann Rheum Dis 2015 EULAR. Abstract 4268
9. Porozov S., Cahalon L., Weiser M., Branski D., Lider O., Oberbaum M. Clinical and Developmental Immunology. 2004;11(2):143–149.
About MediNatura™, Inc.
MediNatura™, Inc., is headquartered in greater Philadelphia and operates a factory and product development facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico. MediNatura™ provides Rx and OTC medicines with exceptionally safe side-effect profiles. It does this by using active ingredients predominantly from natural sources. For more information on MediNatura™ and its products, please visit http://www.medinatura.com.
Call weekdays 8am–5pm MST (1-844-633-4628), or email info(at)MediNatura(dot)com.
Jessly Raj, MediNatura, +1 (505) 363-0540, [email protected]
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