People with knee pain caused by osteoarthritis often struggle with daily activities. Living with obesity can worsen this pain, not only because of the extra weight on your joints but also due to inflammation in your body.
New research suggests that a medication called Semaglutide (Wegovy) can reduce knee pain in people with obesity and knee osteoarthritis.
In the study, people with obesity and knee osteoarthritis were given either Semaglutide or a placebo (a fake pill) along with lifestyle changes (diet and physical activity). Those who took Semaglutide lost more weight (an average weight loss of 13.7% in 68 weeks) and experienced less knee pain. People taking Semaglutide also saw improvement in their ability to do everyday activities and used less pain medications.
It is likely that Semaglutide helps in two ways:
1. Weight Loss: losing weight reduces the stress on your joints.
2. Reducing Inflammation: Semaglutide may also reduce inflammation in the body, which can help with pain.
This study is a big step forward. Semaglutide 2.4mg (Wegovy) is the first weight management medication to show a clear improvement in knee pain for people with both obesity and knee osteoarthritis. While more research is needed, the study suggests that weight management medications may be a valuable tool in the treatment of painful osteoarthritis in people living with obesity.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2403664#ap0