Joint pain is something you’ll likely experience at some point in your life. But when the pain doesn’t go away on its own and starts to interfere with your life, you need treatment and you need it fast. Joint injections are just one of the many therapies that are used to help ease your pain.
At Orthopedic Associates of Wisconsin, our team are experts in joint pain and treatments that can help. Leading our team is Dr. Mitchell Klement, who is our orthopedic specialist. Dr. Klement is ready to help you decide if a joint injection is right for you.
Joint pain can affect just about any of the joints in your body — from your shoulders to your ankles, no joint is safe. Often, this type of pain affects you as you get older and your joints begin to deteriorate; however, injuries can speed up the process.
There are a lot of different conditions that lead to pain in your joints, but sometimes it’s just normal wear and tear from years of use. So how do you know what’s causing your pain? The following are some of the most common conditions that lead to joint discomfort:
Osteoarthritis is one of the most common conditions that leads to pain in your joints. This condition is caused by the breakdown of the layer of cartilage that protects your joints. Once this cartilage is gone, it leads to the bones in your joint rubbing, causing severe discomfort in some cases.
Somewhere between very conservative treatments and surgery lies a joint injection. This treatment is considered minimally invasive, because all that’s used is a syringe and a small needle to introduce the medication into your joint.
So what exactly is this type of treatment? Joint injections are used to help decrease pain and inflammation in your joint that’s caused by one of the above conditions. At our facility, we offer two types of joint injections: steroid injections and viscosupplementation injections.
Corticosteroid injections contain powerful steroids that work inside your joint to decrease the inflammatory process that’s leading to pain and mobility problems. Dr. Klement uses a steroid mixed with an anesthetic type of medication to help ease your pain immediately while the steroid works.
Viscosupplementation is another type of injection that our team offers in your joint. Unlike a corticosteroid injection, this type of treatment uses hyaluronic acid to give you the support your joint needs.
Hyaluronic acid is a thick substance that naturally occurs in your body. It’s purpose is to give your joints lubrication to help them move better. Dr. Klement recommends this type of injection when your pain is due to arthritis.
Although it’s tempting, joint injections aren’t usually the first line of treatment for joint pain. Normally, Dr. Klement suggests more conservative measures first, such as anti-inflammatory medications and physical therapy to get your joints back to normal.
However, if those conservative treatments fail to help your pain, a joint injection could be the next step. This is especially true if Dr. Klement determines that your pain is due to degenerative arthritis. Both corticosteroid injections and viscosupplementation injections have the ability to ease your symptoms.
Dr. Klement may also use these injections to help rule out other causes of joint pain. He can use either of these injections in your joint to determine if they help with your discomfort. If they do, then your pain is likely due to inflammation or arthritis. If they don’t help, he’ll need to do further testing to figure out what’s going on.
Sometimes, joint injections are used in conjunction with other types of treatments. For example, if you’re participating in physical therapy, but are having a hard time with the exercises, a joint injection is used to decrease the inflammation. This allows you to get the full benefits of physical therapy without having to undergo surgery.
If you’re suffering from joint pain and think a joint injection could help, call our office to schedule a consultation at 262-223-3040, or you can book an appointment online today.
