No matter what type of joint pain you have, the suffering can be emotionally exhausting. It’s often challenging to predict why your joints hurt because several underlying health conditions or hidden injuries can be the cause of your unexplained joint pain. One of the most common sources is arthritis, including its most common forms—osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Other conditions that can lead to painful joints include bone cancer, bursitis, ankylosing spondylitis, sprains, and tendinitis.
Joint pain can cause swelling, discomfort, and stiffness in any part of a joint, including the connective tissues and structures that attach to it. General fatigue, immobility, and physical weakness are other common symptoms. These symptoms not only affect your everyday life but also make it hard to live a quality life. Fortunately, there are other treatments besides over-the-counter medicines and prescription medications that may help ease your pain. When it comes to treating joint pain, injection therapies from NJ Spine & Ortho can be beneficial in eliminating pain or at least significantly reducing it over time.
What Injections Can Help Ease My Joint Pain?
The type of injection that’s best for you will depend on where your joint pain is and what’s causing it. Two people can have the same joint condition and experience completely different side effects, which is why it’s critical to talk to an experienced medical professional to come up with a treatment plan for you. Based on your needs, your doctor may recommend one of the four following injections:
Corticosteroid Injections
Corticosteroid injections, also referred to as cortisone or steroid shots, are used to treat a variety of conditions. In the body, cortisone is released through adrenal glands when you are under stress. Injectable cortisone is artificially produced to mimic the function of cortisone in the body but is much more powerful.
These types of injections are used to reduce inflammation in the affected joint and are directly inserted in areas like the shoulder, knee, hip, spine, or wrist. Most people start to feel relief anywhere between 48 to 72 hours after the procedure, and relief could last for up to three months.
Hyaluronic Acid Injections
Hyaluronic acid is naturally produced and acts as a lubricant to keep joints working properly. Hyaluronic acid injections are gel-like and used to treat joint pain in the knee, typically in patients with osteoarthritis. People with osteoarthritis in the knee feel joint stiffness or tenderness because of a reduced supply of hyaluronic acid. The injection helps the joint work more smoothly.
In this procedure, your doctor will draw a few tubes of your blood and run it through a device to separate the platelets. Once the platelets are circulated, they are injected into the affected area in your body. The release of the activated platelets initiates and increases reparative cells to help heal the wound faster.
Placental Tissue Matrix (PTM) Injections
PTM injections use placental tissue—donated from mothers after the delivery of a healthy newborn baby—to help your body repair itself. PTM provides anti-inflammatory benefits, reduces pain, and helps restore damaged skeletal structures and tissues. The placental tissue is injected into the body and has rich nutrients that promote the healing process.
Expected Benefits of Joint Injections
Not every injection is guaranteed to help patients, and depending on how severe your pain is, you may need to consider more aggressive treatments. However, the majority of those who undergo some form of injection therapy describe their experience very positively. Besides reducing your symptoms, you can expect benefits such as:
● Faster relief
● Shorter procedure
● No scarring
● Less painful
● Minimal side effects
● Little to no downtime
Unfortunately, injection therapies don’t last forever, and you may have to return every few weeks or months for treatment. Your doctor may recommend combining these injections with other procedures or treatments to relieve your pain for as long as possible.
Get Lasting Relief from Joint Pain from an Award-Winning Medical Team
It’s difficult to live your life to the fullest when joint pain affects every move you make. When other pain management options just don’t cut it, consider reaching out to the award-winning medical team at NJ Spine & Orthopedics to learn more about injection therapies. Whether you suffer from neck and back pain, nerve compression, or spinal conditions, we do everything in our power to create the most minimally invasive and advanced treatment plan possible to manage or eliminate your pain.
At NJ Spine & Orthopedics, our goal is to promote faster recovery times and help our patients live a pain-free life by using state-of-the-art equipment and procedures. Our board-certified surgeons and medical experts are successful leaders in the healthcare industry and believe that everyone deserves access to quality care. When you’re ready to get lasting relief from joint pain, call (866) 272-9271 or complete a contact form to schedule a consultation in a location near you.