- Cortisone therapy is used to treat pain in the knee, typically related to arthritis. According to Santa Cruz Orthopedics, your doctor will inject your knee directly with a corticosteroid, mixed with a local anesthetic, and it is relatively painless. The cortisone takes several hours to begin working and it does so by reducing the inflammation in your knee that is causing the pain.
Cortisone therapy is a short-term strategy to help you cope with knee discomfort. Before any surgery is considered, this therapy is recommended because, at the least, it can buy the patient time before embarking on a costly medical procedure, states the University of Washington. - The results of cortisone therapy can be mixed. In most cases, results will be seen, although some people report that there has been little to no change in the level of pain. According to the University of Washington, the injection lasts from anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. This provides you relief for the short term while a long term strategy can be planned out for you.
Doctors insist that there be a four-month window between cortisone shots, according to the Mayo Clinic, to make sure the treatment worked. An injection of cortisone can only happen a few times before it begins to lose its effectiveness in treating the inflammation in the knee. Excessive use of cortisone in one area can result in the ligaments and muscles being weakened over the long term. Those who need to have knee surgery do so only after having at least one cortisone therapy, because it is possible that may be enough to quell the inflammation for a fairly long time.
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