United States: Two of the most promising methods of relieving knee stiffness and pain due to knee osteoarthritis seem to be knee braces and water-based exercise.
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This is a review of 12 non-drug therapies, but before this informs clinical practice, more high-quality evidence is required.
It is a disorder brought about by cartilage being worn down, cushioning the ends of bones, causing inflammation, pain, and stiffness.
These symptoms can be treated by painkillers and anti-inflammatory medicine and possibly can bring side effects; therefore, usually, clinicians prescribe physical treatment methods, including healing the pressure on the knees with shoe insoles, supporting the joint with tape, and applying laser therapy directly, initiating cartilage healing.
According to Sarah Kingsbury at the University of Leeds in the UK, “A lot of reviews of treatments only look at how well a single therapy works,” newscientist.com reported.
Knee osteoarthritis is often treated via non-drug therapies, and now we have an idea of which ones work best https://t.co/YUMauG5byz
— New Scientist (@newscientist) June 18, 2025
To bridge this knowledge gap, Yuan Luo of the First People Hospital of Neijiang, China, and associates examined data on 139 randomized control trials, which themselves studied 12 endorsed or experimental physical treatment modalities in the knee osteoarthritis condition.
All those trials included over 9600 adults with the condition. Others could compare two or three physical therapies, whereas others did a comparison of one therapy to a placebo only or no treatment.
The subjects usually underwent any kind of therapy for a number of weeks and took surveys of their symptoms.
On the basis of this, the researchers established that knee braces seemed to be the best as far as alleviating pain and stiffness and enhancing mobility were concerned.
“If you walk in a pool, you’re using your muscles, but you’re not putting force [that wears down cartilage] through your joint in the same way as if you were walking down the park,” as Kingsbury noted.
This was then followed by water-based exercise. The rank of the effectiveness of the other treatments that have been tested in the order was land-based exercise; high-energy laser treatment; firing high-energy sound waves into the knee; low-energy laser treatment; two methods of nerve-the knee with electricity; taping the knee; stimulating the knee with electromagnetic waves; stimulating the knee with a pulse of ultrasound; and putting insoles on, as newscientist.com reported.
The findings are not so powerful that they ought to affect clinical practice, according to Kingsbury, because of several factors.