For decades patients with osteoarthritis resigned themselves to what seemed to be the body’s inevitable breakdown. People grow old, doctors told them. Hips and knees wear out. What can you do?

The latest study about osteoarthritis has lead researchers to believe it as one disease you can intervene with. Intervention is increasingly needed. Osteoarthritis is incurable, and treatments for it are inadequate. Most patients must rely on oral pain relievers, which provide only temporary or partial relief, or invasive surgery to replace stiff and damaged joints.

The belief that osteoarthritis is just a natural result of the aging process and the wear and tear of the joint and muscles has been in question through the latest research. Genetic studies are providing a number of other clues to potential treatments. These types of findings may be preliminary, but they do mark a new beginning. As scientists peer deeper into the genetic underpinnings of osteoarthritis, they are finding something completely unexpected.