As a part of knee pain treatment, injections are prescribed to arthritis patients. Let's look into whether these knee injections can really alleviate knee pain.

Debilitating pain in knees due to arthritis and osteoarthritis can cut short your enjoyments in life to minimum. You may experience limited mobility and pain in daily life activities. Knee stiffness will worsen as the problem intensifies and at times, it may be difficult to even walk a few steps. Patients suffering from knee arthritis also complain of unbearable pain during seasonal changes. Physical therapy, anti-inflammatory pain medications (NSAIDs) and total knee replacement surgery are some treatment options to consider for relieving the excruciating pain. However, not all osteoarthritis patients (mostly they constitute the older population) are physically and mentally ready for surgeries, and oral medications aren't effective on them. That's why doctors prescribe injections as an effective pain-relieving option for chronic knee pain.

Types of Injections for Knee Pain

There are several types of knee injections that are prescribed to patients depending upon the type of arthritis one is affected from. These injections help in repressing pain, inflammation and improve the knee condition. The two common types of knee injections that are generally prescribed are, the cortisone and hyaluronic acid injections. The dosage of injection may vary for every individual and it will depend on doctor's prescription. Your doctor may give you a one-time weekly injection for nearly three to five weeks. Generally, the effect of these injections may last for few months to a year or it may even be lesser than that. It all depends on your current health, past medical records and other medicines that you are taking along the treatment.

Injection Description Cortisone When our body experiences stress, it produces steroids in the form of cortisone that helps the body's repair process. Artificially produced cortisones are known to have a similar effect on disease prognosis. Thus, cortisone injections act as anti-inflammatory agents that eventually leads to pain-relief. The greatest benefits of cortisone injections is that they are known to be quick-acting and extremely effective. Hyaluronic acid (HA) Hyaluronic acid (HA) is commonly found in numerous tissues in the body. It is specifically found in the synovial fluid in elbows and knees. Synovial fluid in our knees imparts its shock-absorbing properties, thereby preventing it from injuries. It also helps in lubrication of knee joints besides being a nutrient carrier. Being a relatively newer knee pain relief option, HA injections have become popular in the recent years. Injecting HA in the knees is regarded to be analogous to oiling our vehicle engines. With time, oil in engines lose viscosity, become thinner and impair the functioning of our cars. To avoid that, we replace oil in the engines frequently. Similar to that, giving HA injections is like bio-lubricating the joints and improving their viscosity. Exact dosages of this injection can only be advised by an expert medical doctor after reviewing the patient's health condition. These injections have been FDA approved for knee joints only and not for hips or other places in the body. Some known brands of HA injections are Synvisc, Euflexxa, Orthovisc, Hyalgan, and Supartz are others. Hyaluronan injections are also known as viscosupplementation.
There are several issues related to injections for knee pain. Firstly, there are several brands of knee injections available in the market that leaves us spoiled for choices. So it is our strict recommendation that you must seek medical advise before choosing any injection. It is also advised that the injections be given to you by experts and you must not inject them on your own or take the help of your friends in doing so. The aforementioned injections are also known to have some side effects that may or may not affect every patient. Medical evaluation before receiving the treatment is hence advisable.

As a parting advice, we would like to tell you that knee injections are just a temporary solution for knee arthritis pain. You must try to include physical therapy, slow exercises and other alternative treatment options to improve your health. But if knee injections suit you and surgery can be avoided, it is always a safer option.