We all know that high blood pressure is bad for the heart. But, it turns out, the drugs you take to control it might also be good for your knees.
A new study from Spain shows that people with knee pain who take a certain type of blood pressure medication, known as beta-blockers, seem to have a lower chance of needing knee replacement surgery.
What the Study Found
The research team, led by Dr. Iskandar Tamimi from Universitario de Malaga, Spain, looked at 300 patients who were treated for knee pain between 2010 and 2019.
Half of them ended up needing knee replacement surgery due to severe arthritis. When they compared these patients to another 300 people who had knee pain but didn’t need surgery, they found something interesting.
People who had been taking beta-blockers were about half as likely to need knee replacement surgery.
And it gets even more specific: those taking a particular type of beta-blocker that targets more than one receptor in the body saw a 54% lower risk. Those who took beta-blockers for five years or more had a 64% lower risk.
The researchers used artificial intelligence to make sure other factors didn’t mess up their results. Even with all those other factors considered, the link between taking beta-blockers and a lower chance of knee surgery held up.
Why This Matters for Arthritis Treatment
Osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, often leads to knee pain and can end up requiring a knee replacement. There’s a lot we still don’t know about how to slow down this kind of arthritis.
But this study hints that beta-blockers could have a role. These medications may slow down the damage to the knee cartilage by reducing inflammation.
This could be a big deal because knee replacement surgery is a major procedure that a lot of people would like to avoid if possible.
Looking to the Future
While this is a promising start, the researchers themselves note that more work is needed to fully understand this surprising benefit of beta-blockers.
They think that these drugs may do more than just offer pain relief; they could actually interfere with the breakdown of knee cartilage.
So, if you’re someone dealing with high blood pressure and knee pain, this research is potentially good news.
Not only could your blood pressure medication help keep your heart healthy, but it might also keep you from needing a new knee down the line.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure and the best time to take high blood pressure drugs.
If you care about pain, please read studies about vitamin K deficiency linked to hip fractures in old people, and these vitamins could help reduce bone fracture risk.
The research findings can be found in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.
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