The impacts of GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy on arthroscopy patients are still being studied.
Here are four things to know about knee pain and GLP-1s based on studies and surgeon observations from 2024:
1. Some surgeons believe that GLP-1s will increase knee replacement volumes. "Weight loss drugs will help people be much more active, which will drive more muscular usage. Patients will experience more skeletal injuries and more desire to have pain-free joints for older arthritic patients. Therefore, surgical volumes will go up, partial and total knee replacements will go up and sports related injuries will go up," Kevin Stone, MD, orthopedic surgeon at the San Francisco-based Stone Clinic, told Becker's.
2. A recent survey by Zimmer Biomet indicated that some obese patients may be eligible for surgery following weight loss due to the use of GLP-1 medications, but respondents did not feel that these medications would slow the need for surgery in patients with hip and knee arthritis. Zimmer Biomet's analysis showed that 16% of obese patients who were undergoing total knee arthroplasty were utilizing GLP-1 medications, compared with just 4% in 2019.
3. Ozempic, Mounjaro and other GLP-1s do not increase the risk of surgical complications in knee replacement patients.
4. A new study published in The New England Journal of Medicine shows that GLP-1s could be beneficial for treating knee pain caused be osteoarthritis. The study reviewed 407 people with obesity and knee osteoarthritis taking semaglutide, the active component of Ozempic and Wegovy, or a placebo over 68 weeks. At the study's onset, the average amount of pain the participants had on a 100-point scale was 70.9. Patients taking semaglutide lost an average of 13.7% of their starting body weight, while those who used the placebo lost 3.2%. The most significant reported physical improvement was to patient knee pain. People who took semaglutide had a 41.7-point reduction in pain compared to those who took a placebo and saw their pain reduced by 27.5 points.