Nonoperative treatment of unicompartmental arthritis of the knee

Treatment of the knee with unicompartmental osteoarthritis remains a challenging clinical problem. Despite pharmacologic advances and surgical innovations, the ideal strategy for the patient who has single-compartment degenerative disease can be complicated. The understanding and management of this problem are further confounded by the fact that so much of the data are unreliable. Given these constraints, this article outlines the current alternatives available in nonoperatively managing the symptomatic unicompartmental arthritic knee.