Cortisone Treatment for Tendonitis

Tendons are rope-like cords that connect muscles to bone. Tendonitis can be caused from repetitive overuse of these tendons, resulting in inflammation and pain. One treatment option for relieving the inflammation and pain is with cortisone.

What is cortisone?

• Cortisone is corticosteroid pain medication. It can be taken orally, applied topically or given via injection. The most effective way to administer cortisone is with an injection into the area of inflammation.

How cortisone works

• The cortisone medication alleviates the inflammation, resulting in pain relief. When attempts to treat your tendonitis with other anti-inflammatory medications have not helped, cortisone can be used as a last resort to relieve the tendonitis.

Benefits

• When you have cortisone injected into the area of pain and inflammation, the medication takes effect sooner than with oral medications. Cortisone injections are easier on your system, where anti-inflammatory medications can be hard on your stomach. If used properly, the results of a cortisone injection can last several months.

Side effects

• The cortisone injection itself can be quite painful. You may have a slight discoloration in the pigment of the skin surrounding the injection site. Other side effects are the degeneration of tendon tissue and increased blood sugar levels.

Cautions

• With cortisone injections, you may have a false sense of being healed. The cortisone does not heal the tendonitis, but helps relieve the pain by reducing the inflammation. While feeling pain-free, you need to ease back into daily activities to avoid aggravating the inflamed tendons.