Study shows value of knee replacement surgery, other options People with knees worn out by arthritis will get more pain relief from joint replacement surgery, but it has more risks and there's a good chance that less drastic approaches also would help. Medical experts advise trying other things before considering surgery, such as weight loss, physical therapy, exercise and medicines, and many studies show these can help. Researchers in Denmark assigned 100 patients to either 12 weeks of non-surgical treatment — physical therapy, exercise, diet advice, special insoles and pain medicine — or surgery followed by 12 weeks of the other treatments. Kenneth Rose, a retired Chicago police officer, also tried shots before having a knee replaced in 2011. The results give "convincing" evidence that surgery helps, but that there are trade-offs on risks, said Dr.