Arthritis is a progressively deteriorating condition and only gets worse with time. With narcotic medication the patient can get hooked onto the medication, arthritis progresses, and they need even a larger dose of medication. Eventually, an arthritic joint needs surgery and when these patients on narcotic medication have surgery they need even a higher dose of medication.
Because this higher dose of medication they become groggy, they develop adverse events to these medications, they don’t cooperate with physical therapy and that increases the risk of complications after the surgery if they are not able to do physical therapy the way we want them to. For these reasons I do not recommend narcotic medication for the hip or for the knee arthritis. Physical therapy is excellent option for keeping the pain at bay.
Physical therapy does not mean exercises necessarily, but we write for pain modalities. Physical therapists use different modalities like TENS, lasers, ultrasonics, friction massage, and other things to decrease the pain. Additionally, walking with a cane is an excellent option because it offloads the joint and helps in decreasing the pain.