If you have knees osteoarthritis, your doctor will suggest various treatments to alleviate your symptoms. One option is to inject the drug into the knee.
Dr. Roy Altman, an osteoarthritis expert at UCLA, says injections come in a variety of forms and play an important role in treating knee osteoarthritis for many people. Injections are especially helpful for people whose symptoms are not relieved by NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen, or for people who cannot take these drugs because of side effects.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common condition arthritis It often affects the knees. It occurs when the cartilage, the smooth covering that protects the bones in the joints, is destroyed. The surface of the bone is damaged, causing pain, swelling, stiffness, and disability.
How knee injections work
First, your doctor will inject you with an anesthetic to numb your knee.
The doctor then uses a needle to suck out the excess fluid in the knee.
A painkiller injection is then given, usually just below the kneecap. Dr. John Richmond, an orthopedic surgeon at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, said the injection shouldn’t be painful and the drug affects the entire joint.
Various treatments have side effects, so you should consult your doctor beforehand. The two most common types of knee injections for OA are corticosteroids and hyaluronic acid.
Suppress inflammation with steroids
Dr. Richmond says corticosteroid injections can help treat flare-ups of OA pain and swelling caused by fluid buildup in the knee.
These injections reduce symptoms by reducing inflammation in the joints. However, they are not a perfect solution in all cases. If you are considering this treatment, please keep the following in mind:
they work fast. These shots provide “very rapid” relief, usually within 24 to 48 hours, Richmond said.
The benefits are short-term. On average, pain relief lasts six to 12 weeks, Richmond said. In many cases, this is long enough to survive an osteoarthritis flare-up until the symptoms subside.
Do not use it frequently. Corticosteroid injections are often most effective the first time, Dr. Altman says. After that, they tend to feel less reassuring.
In most cases, Dr. Richmond tells patients that they can have these injections two to three times a year. If you use it too often, it can damage the cells in your knees that make cartilage.
hyaluronic acid
According to Altman, most of the fluid in a healthy knee is hyaluronic acid. However, when knee OA occurs, the hyaluronic acid in the knees becomes thinner. Your doctor will inject more hyaluronic acid into your knee to increase the supply of hyaluronic acid.
Research shows that hyaluronic acid injections may be more effective than pain medications for some OA patients. Other studies have shown that it may improve symptoms similar to corticosteroid injections. If you are considering hyaluronic acid injections, please note the following points:
That’s often not the first approach. Your doctor may recommend hyaluronic acid if:
- Symptoms do not improve with painkillers or non-drug treatments such as heat and ice.
- You cannot take painkillers such as Advil, Motrin (ibuprofen), Aleve (naproxen sodium), or Tylenol (acetaminophen).
- Steroid injections are not effective enough or you or your doctor are concerned about their side effects.
It can work in different ways. After injection, hyaluronic acid helps cushion and lubricate the moving parts within the knee, Altman said. This effect is fairly short-lived. However, the treatment also appears to have longer-term benefits by reducing pain and inflammation.
Multiple injections may be required. Five versions of hyaluronic acid injections are available in the United States. Some types require only one injection. Others require up to five injections, usually within five weeks. Altman said a second shot can be given six months later if needed.
Platelet-rich plasma: Is it effective for OA?
Another treatment that is attracting attention is platelet-rich plasma (PRP). This involves taking a blood sample and processing it to create a fluid that contains a larger number of platelets (the tiny discs that cause blood to clot) than normal. The doctor then injects fluid into the damaged area.
Platelets in the blood contain natural chemicals that help heal wounds. Doctors have been treating other problems, such as tendon injuries, with PRP for more than a decade.
However, experts still know little about whether it is effective for knee osteoarthritis.
https://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/features/injections-for-osteoarthritis-pain?src=RSS_PUBLIC
