3 Conditions that Respond Well to Joint Injections

Joint pain and stiffness can restrict your mobility, drain your energy, and turn routine tasks into formidable challenges. And when joint pain persists or worsens — as it so often does — it can sabotage your activity levels, affect your ability to get restful sleep, and undermine your mood. 

In short, joint pain can be exceptionally difficult to live with. 

The good news is you don’t have to. Whether it’s a symptom of an overuse injury, age-related joint degeneration, or systemic inflammation, there are many ways to ease chronic joint pain and restore a better quality of life. One of the most effective ways? Joint injection therapy. 

At Fiamo Aesthetics in Yakima, Washington, Nawo K. Fiamo, ARNP, and our expert team offer holistic joint injection solutions that can address a full scope of common joint conditions. Here’s what you should know. 

Understanding joint injection therapy options

Fiamo Aesthetics provides several effective joint injection solutions, so we’re able to address a wide range of joint pain problems. Let’s take a closer look:

Steroid injections

Steroid injections contain corticosteroids and an anesthetic. When we inject this liquid medication into a problematic joint, it reduces inflammation to alleviate pain and swelling. 

Steroid injections don’t cure the underlying problem, but they do provide fast relief that can support other treatments, like physical therapy, to help you attain long-lasting pain relief. 

Steroid injections aren’t painkilling drugs like opioids. Instead of blocking pain signals, they work to reduce pain by controlling the inflammation that puts pressure on your joints. 

Viscosupplementation 

Viscosupplementation, also known as hyaluronic acid injection therapy, uses a supplement of the same lubricating substance that’s found in the synovial fluid of your joints to alleviate joint pain and stiffness, restore function, increase range of motion, and improve stability. 

When carefully injected into a problematic joint, hyaluronic acid augments and revives your diminished joint fluid, restoring its shock-absorbing functionality to near-optimum levels. 

PRP and PRF injections 

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) uses a highly concentrated serum of platelets derived from a small sample of your own blood to flood a damaged joint with powerful growth factors and bioactive proteins that actively: 

• Foster cellular regeneration 
• Facilitate ongoing tissue repair
• Ease inflammation and pain
• Advance healing and recovery 

Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) injections contain an added fibrin matrix, which helps create a more cohesive and stable injectable product.

3 conditions we can treat with joint injections

Many common joint pain problems respond well to at least one form of joint injection therapy. In some cases, you may have a choice of treatment options. Conditions we treat on a regular basis include: 

Osteoarthritis 

Also known as degenerative joint disease, osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common cause of chronic joint pain. It occurs when the smooth cartilage that cushions and protects your joints gradually breaks down, causing irregular motion, stiffness, and pain. 

OA can affect any joint, but tends to develop in the knees and hips most often.

Viscosupplementation can work very well for easing OA-related knee and hip pain, while PRP or PRF therapy can help alleviate pain and slow the progression of OA damage in any joint. Steroid injections can be a helpful option for very painful OA joints, too.

Joint injuries

Injuries — including acute, impact-related trauma and chronic, repetitive use damage — are a top cause of joint pain. Most joint injuries fall into three general categories:

• Tendon injuries, such as Achilles tendinitis, tennis elbow, and rotator cuff tears 
• Ligament injuries, such as a sprained ankle or a torn ACL in the knee joint
• Bursitis, or the painful inflammation of the fluid-filled sacs that cushion a joint

Steroid injections can ease inflammation and pain induced by an overuse injury like tendinitis and bursitis. PRP and PRF injections are a safe and easy way to accelerate healing and repair in inflamed bursae, moderate or persistent ligament sprains, and less severe tendon injuries.

Autoimmune pain 

Joint pain is a common complication of certain autoimmune disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis, and lupus. 

With these conditions, the immune system attacks and destroys your synovial tissues, or the thin, lubricating membrane that eases fluid joint movement. During an autoimmune flare-up, joint tissues swell, causing the affected joint to feel increasingly stiff and painful. 

Steroid injection therapy can be helpful for easing joint inflammation, swelling, and pain during an autoimmune symptom flare, when the underlying condition has been hard to control. The anesthetic in the injection delivers instant relief, while the corticosteroid offers long-term relief. 

Learn how joint injection therapy can help you

Are you ready to find out how you can benefit from joint injections? Our wellness experts at Fiamo Aesthetics can help. Give us a call today, or use our easy online booking feature to schedule an appointment any time.