Understand
Read the ladder. Decisions about medicines, injections, or an operation are made with your doctors after an exam and, when needed, imaging.
Treatments · Conservative care
Conservative care for hip and knee arthritis
A usual order of non-surgical options, then when people talk about hip or knee replacement. Education and contact information only. Not a diagnosis. Not a booking form for injections.
How the pathway works
Least invasive first. Contacts for each step below.
Treat
Primary care and UHealth colleagues listed on this page are the usual contacts for non-surgical care.
Book those visits
Schedule PT, medicines, and injections in MyUHealthChart.
Ask about replacement
When you want to talk about hip or knee replacement, call Tower West or SoLé Mia.
Surgery is not the first step for everyone. Conservative care can quiet a painful cycle. It does not grow the original cartilage back.
Book non-surgical visits
MyUHealthChart
Use MyUHealthChart to schedule physical therapy, medicines, and injections with the contacts on this page. Open the site, or scan the code with your phone camera.
Open MyUHealthChart
What arthritis means here
Worn cartilage. Cycles of pain. No original surface coming back.
If you and your doctors are treating hip or knee arthritis, the smooth cartilage that cushions the joint has worn. The hip is a ball and socket. The knee is the meeting of the thigh bone and the shin bone.
Symptoms often come in cycles: a flare, a quieter stretch, then another flare. Over time the flares can last longer. Some knees drift into a bow-legged or knock-kneed shape.
The aim is to control pain and keep you moving. Conservative steps try to interrupt a cycle. Joint replacement changes the worn surfaces. Neither one is promised to make every person pain-free.
Timing of surgery matters. Too early, when symptoms are mild and brief, can leave some people less satisfied. Too late, when the joint is very stiff and walking is severely limited, can also limit what surgery can give back. That timing is a conversation, not a rule on this page.
The ladder
Least invasive first
Activity, therapy, weight, devices
Stay active with walking, cycling, or swimming you tolerate. Rest alone often makes stiffness worse. Physical therapy. Weight loss if it applies — about 10 pounds of weight loss can reduce joint load in a meaningful way; your target is set with your doctors. A cane or walker on the opposite side. A knee sleeve for swelling. Ice on the knee 15–20 minutes after activity.
Primary care · MyUHealthChartTalk through safe use with primary care
This page does not tell you what to take or how much. People often discuss acetaminophen first; oral NSAIDs such as ibuprofen or naproxen at the lowest dose for the shortest time; diclofenac gel on the knee, not a standard first step for the hip. Stronger prescription NSAIDs when over-the-counter options are not enough or not tolerated.
Primary care · MyUHealthChartStill non-surgical
Knee: corticosteroid, weeks to a few months of relief for many people; hyaluronic acid (“gel”) — evidence is mixed. Hip: corticosteroid, usually under imaging.
Sports medicine or IR · MyUHealthChartSelected people. Not a default.
Knee: radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of selected sensory nerves; genicular artery embolization (GAE). Hip and knee at selected centers: low-dose radiotherapy (LDRT). Confirm current UHealth availability for osteoarthritis before you plan on LDRT. Availability can change.
IR or radiation oncologyTalk about replacement
Hip or knee replacement — total, or a partial knee when only one part is worn — is discussed when conservative steps are no longer enough. For many people with advanced arthritis this can stop a cycle instead of pausing it. It is not guaranteed. It is not “pain-free.” Too early and too late both have costs.
Tower West or SoLé MiaMetabolic program
A talk about a weight-loss program, including GLP-1 medicines when appropriate, is with UHealth Bariatric Surgery & Metabolic Health.
Dr. Onur Cagri Kutlu · (305) 689-1910Who to call
Contacts for each step
Sports-medicine and IR phones are for those visits. For a hip or knee replacement conversation, use the campus numbers at the bottom of this page. Office appointments for this practice: Tower West and SoLé Mia.
Your primary care doctor
Activity, physical therapy, cane, sleeve, ice, and medicines.
MyUHealthChartDr. Onur Cagri Kutlu
UHealth Bariatric Surgery & Metabolic Health.
(305) 689-1910Dr. Kristopher Paultre
SoLé Mia and Lennar.
(305) 689-5555Dr. Alexander Pomerantz
SoLé Mia and Lennar.
(305) 689-5555Dr. Felipe Ferreira de Souza
Interventional Radiology. Sites may include Tower West, SoLé Mia, Lennar, Plantation, and Deerfield Beach.
(305) 243-5509UHealth Radiation Oncology
Very low-dose radiation aimed at the joint. Used selectively. Confirm current availability before you plan on it.
(305) 243-5302When you want a surgery conversation
Call the campus that is easier for you.
Tower West and SoLé Mia. English and Spanish.
Monday–Friday, 8:00am–4:30pm. After hours (urgent, not 911): (305) 243-1000.
Questions
Conservative care
Do I have to try every step before surgery?
No. The ladder is a usual order, not a requirement. Your other health issues, prior treatments, and goals change the order.
If I get an injection, does that mean I will not need a replacement?
No. An injection can quiet a cycle. It does not restore cartilage. Many people still decide on surgery later. Some do not.
Can I stay on medicines and skip the other steps?
Sometimes. Medicines have limits and risks. That is a primary-care conversation.
When should I call about replacement?
When pain, stiffness, or lost activity make you want a surgery conversation. Or when a colleague asks you to. Bring recent films if you have them. Tower West (305) 689-2663 or SoLé Mia (305) 256-4334.
Are these visits all at Tower West and SoLé Mia?
Office appointments listed for this practice are at Tower West and SoLé Mia. Some injection and IR visits happen at other UHealth buildings, including Lennar.
Is this medical advice?
This page is education, not a diagnosis. Your plan is set in clinic.
Educational information. Not medical advice. Not a diagnosis. This page does not publish patient stories. Medically reviewed by Michele R. D’Apuzzo, MD, August 29, 2026.