Injection In The Knee

[Sam451]

Has anyone had experiences with injections in the knee?  I would like to hear stories both good and bad as well as opinions on the subject. My OS is considering it but my PT does not like them.

All thoughts would be appreciated. 

Jenni

[LindaM]

Hi Sam,

I have had both synvisc and cortisone in my knees.  My right knee was too far gone for the synvisc ($1000) to work and it only works 53% of the time anyway.  I had a PKR a few months later.  This fall my left knee was perfect in September, then got really painful in October and I knew it was going.  My rheumatologist told me that he had bee to a recent conference where he learned that the cortisone is actually more successful than the synvisc. He gave me a shot of cortisone which lasted a month, another that lasted a week and when I had an x-ray I was bone-on-bone and scheduled surgery for my second PKR.

None of them were painful although I know that some people have a brief flare after cortisone(although our trainer says that if it flares it also tends to be very successful).  I think I have probably had a dozen cortisone shots in different joints over the years and never had a flare.

hope this helps

Linda

[dm]

I've had over 8 shots in my knee in the last 12 years, and I can honestly say they're not fun, although they have provided short-term relief, after the first few days. Reality check - you may feel an increase in pressure in the joint immediately after the shot due to the increase in fluid volume stuck in there - my OS uses a combination of steroid and anesthetic so he sticks about 5cc in there - the anesthetic helps keep the initial "hit' from the steroid from being quite as painful as the stuff starts getting squished around in there and interacting with the irritated bits in there. Over the next few hours up to the next week once that anesthetic wears off, it's not uncommon for the joint to be sore and achy - how much is a highly individual experience. The first evening after that shot, an icepack  is your best friend! Ice on and off 20 min every hour for the evening --- it helps a lot.

Cortisone shots can also be a diagnostic tool for meniscal tears, I was told. If they help for the short term, but the problem comes back, then more than likely you've got an issue. Another rule about them - no more than once every 3 months maximum. Cortisone can start breaking down tissue and making ligaments more fragile, so there's a strict limit on how often they can be given. They also won't give the shots if you've had a course of oral steroids recently - the kind where you start with a high dose and taper off over a couple weeks.

[Vickster]

I had an intra-articular Ostenil jab (like Synvisc) last Thursday, honestly it took about 2 minutes and virtually didn't hurt at all - way less than a flu shot frankly.  Felt a bit weird for a few days...it is very grouchy today but I think that is more to do with the 18 hour day trip to Switzerland I have just completed.  The next shot is Saturday and the 3rd on May 31st

I had a cortisone shot into a tendon in my elbow (for tennis elbow) in Jan - agaain, the actual injection diddn't hurt but the steroid was mixed with lidocaine.  My whole arm hurt for 48 hours after once the local had worn off (less than 2 hours), couldn't straighten it, due to the steroid flare, but pretty much good as new after that

What is your OS actually injecting?  You need to ask.  Good luck

[minor_discrepancy]

I had a cortisone shot in the lateral side of my left knee joint.  Just under the patella.  It wasn't the best feeling in the world, but it wasn't anything close to the scary-pain I was expecting!  Just try to keep yourself relaxed.  Tensing up definitely makes it worse.

Unfortunately for me, the cortisone shot did absolutely nothing for the pain because mine was related to necrotic bone tissue, not inflammation. x_x Oh well..!

[Jeanknee]

I am 6 weeks out from having finished the Regenokine injection procedure in New York City (called Orthokine in Europe) on my right knee which has recently become stage two arthritis with holes in my articular cartilage.  What they do is take your blood then in an onsite lab manipulate the blood so it has approximately 140 times the anti-inflammatory properties (interleukin-1 antagonists) of normal blood then they centrifuge it and inject it weekly for 5 weeks into the joint.  On a scale of 1 - 10 for pain I was about a "6"  24/7. I couldn't get up from seat without leaning on something. There was a lot of fluid in my knee which you could see on the MRI. I was limping. It was not good.

My first injection was at about 6pm at night.  When I woke up the next morning all the pain and swelling was gone!  100% success. It costs $10,000.  I have just started getting a bit of pain back after 6 weeks (after I exercise but it does go away the next day) so am aggressively looking for a way to fill the holes. The doctors who did the injection said that for the next 18 - 48 months the pain should not come back to the levels they were at and I go in on Friday to get my physiotherapy exercises mapped out for me to make sure the right muscles are strong.

The Regenokine injections are very, very popular with the professional athletes here, especially the NY Giants. Kobe Bryant, Fred Couples, Alex Rodriquez - they've all had them on various joints.   

[LAS]

Is this the same as Stem cell injections?  LAS

[LAS]

Hi Sam: I had synvisc one (one injection) in my left knee after a menisectomy, abraision chrondroplasty and chrondromalacia.  I was limping after the surgery and the OS thought this might help.   There was about a 40-50% improvement.   Contrary to what my friends told me about the injection that I would be crawling out of the office, that did not happen to me.   I hardly felt anything at all.   It took about 4 to 6 weeks to kick in at all.   However, I developed a tear in the right knee shortly after that and I got a cortisone injection about 2 months ago in that knee.  It worked almost immediately and again there was no pain with the injection.   The knee with the cortisone is much better than the knee with the synvisc and I have not had the tear fixed and wont't until I get a second opinion this time.   I had no side effects at all with either injection.  I'me walking the best I have in over a year so they work but it is short-lived.  Hope this helps you.   LAS

[Jeanknee]

Hi LAS,

Regenokine is not stem cell, it's your body's natural inflammatory chemicals multiplied. Here is the inventor, Dr. Peter Wehling, talking about the procedure:

http://www.empowher.com/osteoarthritis/content/regenokine-therapy-non-surgical-treatment-osteoarthritis

Hope this helps,

Jeanknee

[LAS]

Dear Jeanknee,  I take it that insurance does not pay for this injection.  Thanks for the info and I will  look into it.   LAS

[Jaime0402]

I have had cortisone and synvisc. Neither hurt very bad and neither did anything beneficial either

[Jeanknee]

Regenokine has one purpose and that is to eliminate inflammation.