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Osteoarthritis of the Knee (Knee Arthritis): "Degenerative Joint Disease" can cause pain, stiffness, and cartilage breakdown.

Edited By: Seth S. Leopold, M.D.
Last updated Monday, January 14, 2008

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Diagnosis and evaluation

Diagnosis

To diagnose osteoarthritis of the knee, a physician will take a thorough history and perform a thorough physical examination first. Following this, simple x-rays, taken with the patient standing, are an effective way to diagnose this condition.

Diagnostic tests

The simplest test to diagnose osteoarthritis of the knee is the x-ray. Taken with the patient standing up, plain x-rays can diagnose the condition with great accuracy.

Very mild arthritis can be seen on a bone scan or an MRI even before it is visible on plain x-rays, but in reality, these tests are seldom helpful clinically for this purpose.

Effects

The diagnostic tests for osteoarthritis of the knee, including x-rays and MRIs, are generally not painful and they are well-tolerated by most patients.

Health care team

Osteoarthritis of the knee is common and generally straightforward to diagnose. Family physicians, internists, orthopaedic surgeons, rheumatologists, and physiatrists often are the ones who make the diagnosis of osteoarthritis of the knee.

Finding a doctor

Both rheumatologists and orthopaedic surgeons are “specialists” in arthritis care.

If surgery is being considered to manage osteoarthritis of the knee, visiting with a fellowhip-trained, high-volume knee replacement surgeon would be a reasonable step to consider.

Surgery for Knee Arthritis at the University of Washington

If you are interested in making an appointment to discuss this procedure, you can request an appointment using our online referrals website. To request a referral online, please click here. You can also call the Bone & Joint Surgery Center at 206-598-3354 or Eastside Specialty Clinic at 425-646-7777 to make an appointment.

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