Knee arthritis may respond to an easy, hands-on treatment.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—The knee has a complex anatomy, with three compartments. One of them, the patellofemoral joint, is formed by thighbone and kneecap. Osteoarthritis (OA) of that joint is a distressingly common—and incurable—form of arthritis that causes pain behind or around the kneecap. But a small Australian study just published in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism has revealed a simple treatment to ease pain in that complex joint: Wrap the knee with athletic tape.

THE DETAILS: This easy option for knee arthritis treatment was revealed when researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia looked at 28 people (average age 57), half of whom had patellofemoral joint OA and half of whom did not. All 28 participants received MRI scans of their knees to reveal any "patellar malalignment"— tracking problems that occur as the kneecap moves along the groove of the femur when the leg flexes and extends. The 14 participants with patellofemoral joint OA then received a second MRI, this time with their knees wrapped with athletic tape to provide support to the knee.

What the researchers found was that the 14 participants with patellofemoral joint OA did show greater malalignment of the knee joint (in particular, their kneecaps tended to sit more toward the outside of their legs than they should) than the other participants. But that alignment problem improved immediately when their knees were taped. Also, the study recruits with patellofemoral OA reported less pain while squatting with their knees taped than they did with their knees bare.