The management of post-traumatic osteoarthritis

Posttraumatic arthritis primarily affects younger individuals, leading to reduced physical activity, chronic pain, and prolonged symptomatic treatments. The management of post-traumatic arthritis after fracture, dislocation or ligament rupture continues to be one of the most challenging clinical entities in orthopaedic and trauma surgery. Therapies to address early symptoms include anti-inflammatory agents, pain killers, corticosteroid or hyaluronic acid joint injections but these offer only temporary pain relief with hardly any mid or long term benefit. There are many surgical options for the treatment of posttraumatic arthritis. For the early stages, arthroscopic debridement should be considered. At late stages, corrective osteotomies or arthrodesis are strongly recommended for the young patients. In older patients arthroplasties remain the treatment of choice.