Acid Injections for Knee Pain

Knee pain is a common ailment that occurs for a variety of reasons, including disease, injury or overuse. Regardless of its cause, knee pain can often be treated successfully using a variety of treatments. One such treatment option, especially useful for treating chronic knee arthritis pain, involves injecting the knee with hyaluronic acid, a therapy that can provide excellent pain relief in many cases.

History

• The knee joint, as well as the other joints in the body, is surrounded by synovial fluid, which helps to cushion and lubricate the joint. Many people suffering from knee joint pain, especially those suffering from knee osteoarthritis, lack adequate synovial fluid levels. Hyaluronic acid, which is a critical component of synovial fluid, is often injected directly into the knee joint cavity, where it can increase joint lubrication and reduce pain levels. Synvisc, which is the brand name of the first hyaluronic acid preparation to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to treat knee osteoarthritis, is a popular hyaluronic acid preparation.

Function

• Hyaluronic acid knee joint injections are administered to treat chronic knee osteoarthritis pain. Generally, more traditional pain relief methods are first implemented, including pharmacologic treatment (pain medication), activity modification and physical therapy. In cases where these treatment methods fail, hyaluronic acid injections are routinely administered. A typical course of treatment involves injecting the knee joint once per week for a period of three to five weeks. Additional treatments can be administered based on a case-by-case basis.

Benefits

• The main benefit afforded by hyaluronic acid knee joint injections, besides pain relief, is a lack of serious side effects. Other types of injections into the knee joint, specifically cortisone injections, carry the potential for greater side effects, especially joint irritation, joint cartilage wear and possible joint degradation with ongoing use. Hyaluronic acid, on the other hand, is relatively free from any major side effects, save for a few instances of localized joint irritation and a possible allergic reaction to the injection itself.

Considerations

• Hyaluronic acid injections are not intended to treat major knee joint disorders. For instance, end-stage knee osteoarthritis, characterized by severe cartilage loss and bony deformity, is rarely helped, at least significantly, by hyaluronic knee injections. Ligament tears and ruptures, which can cause severe knee instability, pain and misalignment, are additional types of knee problems that are not amenable to hyaluronic acid treatment, which has a narrow therapeutic focus.

Misconceptions

• Although other joints are susceptible to osteoarthritis and degenerative joint diseases, especially the hip and shoulder joints, hyaluronic acid injections, despite many misconceptions, are only FDA-approved to treat osteoarthritis symptoms in the knee. They cannot be legally marketed as a potential pain treatment for other joints. However, they can be, and sometimes are, injected into other joints in the hopes of managing persistent pain problems, but the results have been, overall, unsatisfactory.