How this fits in

Patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) frequently require analgesics, but the analgesics commonly used are not ideal as they are either insufficiently effective or have serious side-effects. The authors hypothesised that tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), which are used as analgesics for other chronically painful conditions, may be helpful for patients with OA. In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, it was found that one TCA, nortriptyline, did not significantly reduce pain or improve physical function, stiffness, or participants’ global assessment of the impact of their OA; as such, nortriptyline is unlikely to be a useful treatment for patients with knee OA.