The article “Evidence-Based Knee Injections for the Management of Arthritis” reviews how effective different knee injections are for treating arthritis. It finds that intraarticular corticosteroid injections, like triamcinolone hexacetonide, work well for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthritis (OA), and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) (Cheng et al., 2012). These injections provide significant pain relief and help with movement for months up to a year. The text notes, “Triamcinolone hexacetonide offers an advantage over triamcinolone acetonide and should be the intraarticular steroid of choice” (Cheng et al., 2012).
The article also discusses hyaluronate injection and explains that these may give longer-lasting pain relief than steroid injections for OA and can also be helpful for RA. However, it is suggested for use mainly in patients with surgical risks or mild disease when other treatments haven’t worked. The text says, “Intraarticular injection of hyaluronate may provide longer pain relief than steroid injection in osteoarthritis,” and “It is only recommended for patients with significant surgical risk factors and for patients with mild radiographic disease in whom conservative treatment has failed” (Cheng et al., 2012).
Other treatments like botulinum toxin type A, tropisetron, and tanezumab have also shown they can reduce knee pain, though they are not as well supported as corticosteroids and hyaluronate. The text mentions, “Botulinum toxin type A injection is effective in reducing arthritic knee pain” and the same is true for tropisetron and tanezumab (Cheng et al., 2012).
The article supports knee injections as an important part of managing arthritis, especially when other treatments don’t work. While many of these injections are effective, the long-term safety and success of newer treatments are still being studied.
Cheng, O. T., Souzdalnitski, D., Vrooman, B., & Cheng, J. (2012, June 14). Evidence-based knee injections for the management of arthritis. OUP Academic. https://academic.oup.com/painmedicine/article/13/6/740/1839739
CreakyJoints. (2019). “Hyaluronic Acid Injections: How Do They Treat Arthritis?” [Image]. https://creakyjoints.org/living-with-arthritis/treatment-and-care/medications/hyaluronic-acid-injections-for-arthritis/
