If you have chronic knee pain or have an old shoulder or wrist injury that is flaring up or has been re-injured, then you have probably heard of cortisone injections. Cortisone shots are a steroid injection directly into the affected area. They can help to reduce pain and inflammation, sometimes within mere minutes or hours, but it isn’t a good long-term solution. It is the classic case of treating the symptoms but not the disease or cause. In today’s article, we’re going to cover some of the better alternatives that you can choose instead of getting a cortisone shot.

Hyaluronic Acid Injections

While the name sounds a little scary, the “acid” that is being injected into your knee, elbow, or other joint area is actually a viscous lubricant. Hyaluronic acid is a compound that is thick and viscous and is an excellent copycat of our body’s natural lubricating fluids. The acid is injected around the inflamed joint and it goes to work right away helping the joint to move more easily and with less pain. The good thing about this treatment is that it is FDA approved and doesn’t have a lot of notable side effects, unlike with steroid injections which have a lot of unpleasant side effects. 

Physical Therapy

For some knee or other joint injuries, good old fashioned physical therapy can be an effective way to help enhance healing and to strengthen the muscles that hold ligaments and tendons around the impacted area. By increasing your natural range of motion and improving the strength of your joint, you can typically see marked improvement in pain reduction, ease of use, and overall physical activity. Sometimes the old ways have been around this long for a reason!

Platelet Rich Plasma Injections (PRP)

This is a more cutting-edge solution to joint pain that may interest you. This treatment actually uses the patient’s own blood that has been treated in order to extract valuable healing platelets. This solution is then injected directly into the inflamed joint area which causes your body’s natural healing response to go into overdrive, bringing healthy cell growth and regeneration to the area. This helps to naturally heal, reinforce, and strengthen the cells in and around the joint without the use of harsh steroidal compounds or chemicals.

Acupuncture Therapy 

Acupuncture has been a part of medicine for literally thousands of years. It is a safe and effective way to help reduce joint inflammation and can even help boost your body’s natural healing capabilities, similar to PRP injections. 

For The Road

We hope you enjoyed learning about cortisone shots for your knee and joint pain issues. If you would like to know more about this or anything else along these lines, we are happy to help. Just contact us and we can go over your options and help you find the best path for your health and nutrition goals. Schedule a consultation for any of our amazing services by reaching out to us here. We look forward to hearing from you.