Knee Injections Specialist

When would I need a knee injection?

Dr. Bright recommends knee injections to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, ease stiffness, and improve your ability to move and use the joint. 

A few of the knee conditions that benefit from injections include:

• Osteoarthritis
• Post-traumatic arthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Gout
• Bursitis
• Tendonitis

For many people, joint injections provide long-lasting symptom relief. But the results depend on the type of injection and each person’s individual response to the medication.

What type of knee injection will I receive?

As a specialist in treating knee problems, Dr. Bright freezes the skin with ethyl Chloride and then injects a tiny amount of novocaine into the skin.  Then, using an ultrasound machine, he locates the correct spot and injects cortisone or hyaluronic acid to relieve your knee pain.  Using the ultrasound machine improves the accuracy of your injection from 80% without the machine to 98%!

Corticosteroid injections

Dr. Bright combines steroids with a local anesthetic. The local anesthetic provides immediate, but short-lived, pain relief.

Steroids work a little slower, but they’re strong anti-inflammatory medications. It takes 2-7 days for the steroids to reduce the inflammation. As inflammation goes down, your pain improves.

Everyone responds differently to steroid knee injections. Your results may last for a few days or for several months.

Viscosupplementation

Viscosupplementation refers to an injection containing hyaluronic acid. This type of knee injection is specifically used to treat arthritis. Your knee joint normally produces hyaluronic acid, a thick fluid that absorbs shock and lubricates the joint.

After Dr. Bright injects hyaluronic acid, it helps reduce inflammation, ease your pain, and improve joint movement. Viscosupplementation can take several weeks to produce a noticeable difference. Once the results appear, they can last for 6 months or longer.

What happens during a knee injection?

Dr. Bright cleans the injection site and applies a local anesthetic so you won’t feel the injection. Then he uses real-time ultrasound imaging to view the structures inside your knee and to guide the needle into the joint and place the medication near your damaged tissues.

Osteoarthritis sometimes causes fluids to build up in the knee joint. If you have excess fluid, Dr. Bright attaches an empty syringe to the needle and withdraws the fluid.

He keeps the needle in place, removes the syringe with the fluid, and attaches a new syringe containing your medication. Then he injects the medication.

You can walk around shortly after your injection, and most patients return to their normal activities the next day. However, you may have minor discomfort at the injection site for a few days.

To learn if knee injections can ease your pain, call Schofield, Hand and Bright Orthopaedics or book an appointment online today.