The numbers surrounding arthritis in the United States are concerning — the CDC reports that more than 54 million Americans have doctor-diagnosed arthritis and the Arthritis Foundation estimates that more than 92 million have doctor-diagnosed arthritis or arthritis symptoms. However you look at it, joint pain is a big problem in the US, but, fortunately, there are solutions, including treatments like joint injections.
At Bux Pain Management, Dr. Anjum Bux and our highly qualified team offer the services you need to combat arthritis, and one of the most effective frontline treatments we provide are joint injections.
Here’s a look at how we can relieve your arthritis pain through joint injections.
Arthritis at a glance
The term “arthritis” is a catchall diagnosis for more than 100 diseases that lead to joint pain and inflammation. The most common forms of arthritis include:
- Osteoarthritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Gout
Arthritis can affect any of the joints in your body, but the problem most often develops in your more active joints, including your knees, hips, and lower back.
In most cases, there’s no cure for arthritis, especially degenerative forms of the disease like osteoarthritis. Lacking a cure, our goal is to slow the progression of the disease while we manage your joint pain at the same time, which is where joint injections come in.
Joint injections
As we mentioned, joint injections are our first line of defense when it comes to joint pain. The most common injection we use is one that contains both a local anesthetic and a steroid. The local anesthetic goes to work immediately to quiet the pain while the steroid tackles the inflammation.
It takes us only minutes to administer your joint injection and you’re free to return home afterward.
Most corticosteroid injections provide relief for a few months, though results vary greatly from one patient to the next. Whatever your relief period, we urge you to use this pain-free time to build up the support tissues surrounding your joint, which can ward off future joint pain and degeneration.
Once the effects of the joint injection wear off, you can return for another round, which will help you to continue your great arthritis-management efforts.
Arthritis in your back
If you’re having problems with facet joint arthritis or your sacroiliac (SI) joint, both of which lead to lower back and hip pain, we offer injections for these areas, as well.
SI injections allow us to reduce the inflammation in these joints, which should help restore your ability to move without pain.
Here again, we urge you to use this time wisely and work toward more sustainable solutions through physical therapy and exercise. To that end, we’re happy to sit down with you to design an appropriate plan.
If you’d like to learn more about how our joint injections can relieve the symptoms of arthritis, contact one of our locations in Lexington, Cynthiana, or Danville, Kentucky, to set up an appointment.
