About 58.5 million adults in the United States have arthritis, and this number is expected to rise quite a bit by 2040 — to a whopping 78.4 million. More concerning, more than 43% of arthritis sufferers report limitations on their lives due to the disease.
As joint health experts, the skilled team here at Los Angeles Orthopedic Surgery Specialists understands that the future is now when it comes to arthritis. Our goal is to help our patients find relief from the joint pain and inflammation so they’re not missing out on doing the things they love.
While there may be no cure for arthritis, there are solutions, including joint injections. Here, we take a look at why joint injections can play a valuable role in managing your arthritis.
Arthritis is a catchall term for more than 100 different diseases that lead to joint pain and inflammation. Since these two symptoms are what’s causing the discomfort and placing limitations on your ability to move freely, we can start here with corticosteroid injections.
These frontline injections include a local anesthetic for pain relief and a steroid that reduces the inflammation inside your joint. We can’t say how long the relief from a corticosteroid injection lasts — it can be weeks or months — but we urge you to use this time to engage in some strengthening exercises to support the joint for longer-term results.
Another joint injection we use is hyaluronic acid (HA), mainly for knee osteoarthritis. HA is a substance that’s naturally found in your body, including in your eyes and joints, and it excels in retaining moisture.
By introducing HA into your knees, we promote smoother gliding within the joint. This practice is also known as viscosupplementation.
Another joint injection we offer takes a regenerative approach to arthritis. More specifically, we offer platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections that are designed to control inflammation and to create an environment that promotes healing. When we inject the platelets, they release growth factors that initiate a wound healing cascade, inviting regenerative resources from within your body to the area.
This approach is designed to help repair some of the damage that’s already been done within your joints and to keep the disease from wreaking more havoc.
As you can see, each of our joint injection options tackles arthritis from a different angle. If you’re tired of being hobbled by joint pain, we invite you to sit down with us to figure out which approach is best for your joints and your goals.
To get started, call one of our offices in Los Angeles, California — in Glendale, Wilshire, and East LA, Santa Fe Springs, Pico Rivera, Encino, Newhall, Montebello, and Tarzana. You can also schedule an appointment for a consultation online.