text_1: Viscosupplementation Recommended For Appropriate Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis
text_2: This news release from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) describes a therapy called viscosupplementation that involves injecting hyaluronic acid, a gel-like fluid, that acts as a lubricant to alleviate pain in people with knee osteoarthritis. In this case the target audience is senior citizens. Because the subhead of the release describes it as a “New Scientific Statement” the ASSM might be forgiven for the medical jargon used throughout the release. This clearly wasn’t written for the general public. For example, the release doesn’t explain the term “viscosupplementation,” which is what this release is promoting. We hope health journalists take care when re-interpreting the language for the older Americans considering their many options for treating a common ailment like painful knees. The release offers no discussion on costs of viscosupplementation or insurance coverage restrictions. The benefit data is limited and there are no mention of harms. The article upon which this recommendation is based won’t be published until January 2016 which makes these limitations much more critical. Osteoarthritis of the knee is the most common form of arthritis and can be seen as a normal part of aging and of “wear and tear” of the body. It occurs most often in people over age 50 and more often in women than in men. It’s degenerative, getting worse over time. With the aging of the US population, especially considering the crush of baby boomers, the subject of how best to manage the pain and disability seen with osteoarthritis of the knee becomes important. While viscosupplementation has been available for many years, the majority of randomized clinical trials have not demonstrated a consistent or important benefit to either pain level or functionality from this therapy. A terse, vaguely worded and incomplete release does little to inform either the general public or the clinical community.