Knee joint is a complex structure that is frequently affected by degeneration and breakages. The cartilage breakdown or joint immobility may lead to knee pain. Whereas, there are several other underlying factors causing knee pain. One of them is osteoarthritis.
Knee pain can be a frustrating problem that affects your daily life and overall comfort. It can interfere with simple activities like walking, climbing stairs, or exercising. This condition impacts people of all ages—whether you’re an athlete, an office worker, or someone leading a normal routine life. Causes may include injuries, arthritis, or overuse. Regardless of the cause, knee pain can limit movement and reduce quality of life, making timely treatment and proper care essential for recovery and long-term joint health.
Fortunately, there are several treatments available for managing the knee pain. Administration of gel injections is one of them. It is a highly effective treatment as if worked, it reduces the chances of surgery or knee replacements. Injections mostly consist of FDA approved content including hyaluronic acid and steroids. As a result, these injections provide relief, reduce pain and improve function of the knee joint.
However, administration of gel injections may also accompany some complications including pain worsening, rashes, respiratory difficulties, peripheral edema and others.
What are Knee Injections Used For?
Knee injections are generally recommended to treat swelling around tissues and knee joints. Inflammation occurs as a natural response of the body towards any injury. What actually happens is, it increases blood flow and defense response of the body at the affected area. The affected area becomes swollen.
When the body experiences injury or inflammation, it sends warning signals to the brain, resulting in pain. To help relieve this discomfort, doctors may use injections that reduce inflammation and ease pain. Such inflammation is often caused by conditions like arthritis, synovitis, or tendonitis. These treatments not only help decrease swelling but also improve mobility and restore comfort in daily activities.
What is Typically Injected Through Injection?
There is a variety of medical material injected as medication for knee pain. However, their selection depends upon the type of pain and its severity. The healthcare experts must intervene to decide the content of injection. But most commonly used are as follows
Corticosteroids
Corticosteroid Injections are considered the gold standard among all other injection treatments. They are available in several formulations most commonly termed as cortisone and steroids. These corticosteroids are the most potent anti-inflammatory injections and can be administered intravenously or orally.
Most commonly corticosteroids are administered along with local anesthetics to increase their local effect. Combining these two drugs provides a numbing and relaxing effect. Although complete relief from knee pain is a matter of 2-3 days. A notable anti-inflammatory effect can be observed after these gel injections administration.
Viscosupplementation
Viscosupplementation is recently recognized as FDA approved treatment for ankle arthritis.This injection consists of hyaluronic acid. It is a synthetic form of knee joint natural fluid. The body naturally produces hyaluronic acid in the joints that acts as a lubricating agent and provides protection against the pressure.During Arthritis,the knee joint exhibits some changes in the composition of natural synovial fluid i.e it is less viscous and pro inflammatory.
This viscosity is maintained due to a natural component hyaluronan that can trigger inflammation upon breakdown.Synthetic versions of this component are derived from rooster comb or can be prepared in lab and also available in market under different proprietary formulations.
So, viscosupplementation is a treatment that utilizes this synthetic component and facilitates the relief from knee pain.However, they do not cause the knee pain worsening after gel injections administration.
Regenerative Biologic Agents
Biological agents most commonly discussed are stem cells and platelet rich plasma.They are increasingly studied and advocated for the treatment of orthopedic ailments. Although researches are ongoing searching for their broad spectrum benefits, recently they are being used increasingly for the musculoskeletal injuries i.e tendons and cartilage breakdown.
How are Injections Typically Done
Injections are often administered under an office procedure but may also be done in the surgery room if coadministered with some surgical procedure such as knee replacement.However to avoid the risk of infections, sterile technique guidelines must be followed.
When Can Knee Gel Injections Be Helpful?
Knee gel infections are most commonly administered in order to get the knee pain out before moving to any surgical procedures. This injection may relieve the pain right away and also administered afterwards if required. However, there may be some soreness, redness or bleeding observed during the procedure that is quite a normal practice.
At the pain relief clinic Desoto, we first analyze your condition and may also refer to ultrasound and X-rays for proper diagnosis. Afterwards, we provide sterile services throughout injection administration and patients may observe visible relief within 24 hours of injection administration.
Common Risks Associated With Gel Injections
Although gel injections are safe to use, there are some risk factors associated with these injections. They are
- Redness
- Increase in blood glucose
- Change in skin color
- Post injection flare
- Any allergic reaction
Can Knee Pain Aggravate After Knee Gel Injection?
Researchers have reported that there is no case that knee pain worse after gel injection administration. However, there is evidence about steroid injections that show an elevation of knee pain after administration. Steroid injections aggravate knee arthritis and become a reason for pain worsening.
The increase in knee spacing among the joints may also be a reason for pain worsening after injection administration.
X-ray Diagnosis
The x-ray examination also shows an aggravation in arthritic conditions of the patients who are administered the steroid injections whereas no such progression is examined in the x-ray of gel injected patients. Rather these gel injections showed a reduction in knee arthritis.
All healthcare professionals including those at pain and spine clinic suggest the usage of gel injections as compared to the steroid injections in order to avoid the condition of knee pain getting worse after gel injections administration.
It is a better treatment approach to appropriately manage knee pain with diverse underlying side effects.