Cortisone

[Balaclava]

My knee collapsed on me last July (caused by playing golf). I paid for a MRI scan and a consultant. The Consultant read the scan report to me (20 minutes)! The scan showed a torn my meniscus on two places and I had some age related arthritis. Four months later it is still swollen and sore, I can walk 18 holes but I can't swing a club (twist on the knee). The NHS has just come in with a telephone consultation with a physio. The physio has booked me in for a cortisone injection.

Questions:
1. Will a cortisone injection help mend my torn meniscus?
2. Should I put it off until the spring to get the benefits on the golf course during the summer?

[vickster]

Cortisone won't do anything to fix damage in the knee, the aim is to reduce inflammation and hence pain, and enable you to do more. It's not a long term fix, if you have it now, you may well need another in the spring. Degenerate meniscus tears in an arthritic knee don't really heal, but most aren't problematic.

If you have biomechanical issues in the knee due to the meniscus tears (locking bucking, loss of range), unfortunately surgery might be your only option. Even if you do have the meniscus trimmed, if it's in poor condition, it could well tear again especially if twisting.

If the arthritis is confined to one compartment in the knee, you might find an offloader brace can enable you to do more and protect the knee (find a specialist physio who can advise)

(I'm having the same discussion with a surgeon this week)

There is good arthritis and meniscus info in the learning portfolio

Good luck

[Balaclava]

you may well need another in the spring

Thanks - Is there a limit to how many times you can have these. Should I try to optimise their benefit by choosing not to have one now and having one each spring?

[vickster]

Max 3 a year as they can damage cartilage further so they prefer to avoid unless the knee is already arthritic.
There is another type of injection called hyaluronic acid for mild to moderate arthritis but not generally available on NHS.
Neither type of injection is guaranteed to help. There's info around the forum
Eg https://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEnotes/pr ... -arthritis

How bad is the arthritis? How old are you? Injections are really just a sticking plaster as your longer term need may be a knee replacement