Are you experiencing joint pain that is affecting your capability to carry on activities of daily living? Pain is a part of life, and while not all is bad, at times, it can significantly impact the quality of your life. Joint pain, whether due to injuries common in athletes, or conditions like arthritis, among other instances, doesn’t have to turn your life inside out. This is especially when your regimen, including over-the-counter medication, does not offer desirable relief. You can turn to Kai Sports Medicine LLC for joint injections, an approach that continues to offer impressive pain relief levels.
Joint injections use medication to treat the pain. The injections can be used in various cases, including to manage pain caused by:
- Degenerative arthritis
- Osteoarthritis
- Tendonitis
- Injury
- Stress from poor posture, to name a few
The common joint injection types are:
- Corticosteroid: Cortisone shot is the most popular joint injection that uses a combination of anesthetic and naturally occurring steroids. The shot helps reduce inflammation, which results in pain alleviation.
- Hyaluronic acid: The injection is commonly done in the knee, especially when a cortisone shot doesn’t deliver effective pain relief. The acid is similar to the substance naturally found in the body responsible for lubricating the joints. The injection offers more lubrication, facilitating better function and pain relief.
- Platelet-rich plasma (PRP): PRP uses your blood to speed up cartilage and tissue healing, helping the joint function properly and alleviate pain.
- Placenta tissue matrix (PMT): PMT is made from placenta tissue collected from a mother after a healthy child’s birth. The placenta contains amniotic stem cells. When injected into the joints, it alleviates inflammation and promotes healing.
Joint injections benefits
Joint pain can be overwhelming, and as you seek effective relief, you may be thinking about surgery. While effective, surgery is invasive and poses many risks and complications, not to mention that you may not be a good candidate. Joint injections offer a much better alternative since it is minimally invasive. Moreover, options like PRP and PMT do not use medication and offer additional health benefits since they are composed of naturally occurring substances.
Common risks
Joint injections are minimally invasive, and while uncommon, you may experience a few complications, including injection site swelling, bleeding, and infection. The complications aren’t overwhelming and typically subside within a short period.
What to expect
The process is short, spanning between 30 minutes to an hour, and you can return to your routine shortly after injection, typically after a day. The pain relief may take some time to kick in fully, spanning up to a week for some.
Joint injections do not necessitate special preparations. Nonetheless, you need to tell your doctor about any medication allergies, preexisting health conditions, and active prescriptions or over-the-counter medication you are using.
After the injection, the specialist can recommend seeing a physical therapist after the pain subsides. This is to help you adopt an exercise regimen for further pain relief and regain full functionality of the joints.
Joint injections are common for athletes striving to stay fit and active. Regardless of your situation, the injections can offer significant pain relief without exposure to many risks and complications. Visit Kai Sports Medicine today for more on joint injections and how they can help alleviate your pain.
