Knee Injection

Your knees are tough joints; they cushion your landing when you jump, like in basketball, and they take all the torque when you run, like in soccer. Knees bridge the intersection between the femur in your thigh and the fibula and tibia in your shin. Knees have a complex structure of ligaments and tendons that allow you to bend and stretch your knees.

So, when knee pain strikes, visit a sports injury specialist to find out about your treatment options. There are many reasons why your knee (or knees) are hurting, including:

Knee injury
Knee sprain
Arthritis in your knee
Ligament tear
Meniscus tear
Tendonitis
Bursitis
Kneecap pain

With so many possible causes for your pain, your experienced pain management specialist needs to determine exactly what’s wrong with your knee. The diagnosis — arrived at through a physical examination, medical history and, if necessary, additional imaging tests — determines the treatment. But an injection can ease the pain and inflammation in your knee.

Getting Injections for Knee Pain

You can get same-day knee injections at the Sports and Pain Institute in NY. After your diagnosis is determined and your treatment is decided, you’re made comfortable on an x-ray table. Your doctor relies on fluoroscopic images in real-time to guide the needle to the exact spots in your knee that the medicine has to reach.

Whether you receive a genicular nerve block knee treatment, knee injections for arthritis, steroid injection for knee pain, or viscosupplementation injections, you have the same procedure. All injections, in fact, contain some local anesthetic to instantly relieve your pain, although the effects of the anesthetic last only a couple of hours. After the procedure, you can go home, where you should relax for the rest of the day.

Risks and Side Effects

All knee injections are safe and all have a track record of success. But risks and side effects, though rare, can happen. Every kind of knee injection carries the risk of infection, but you can avoid that by keeping your knee clean and dry. Particular risks of each type of knee injection include:

Cortisone injection knee risks: Tendons may become weaker, your bones may become thinner and the injection can damage a nerve.
Genicular nerve blocks knee risks: An itchy rash may develop, or in some cases, pain relief isn’t noticeable until a month or more after the injection.
Viscosupplementation injections into your knee risks: You may experience Inflammation, stiffness, and soreness. It’s also possible the treatment just doesn’t work for you.

These risks and side effects are minor compared to the potential benefit of several pain-free months. Talk to your doctor about the risks before deciding to get a knee injection.

Febin Melepura, MD is a top rated, best in class interventional pain management doctor. He is a nationally recognized pain relief specialist and is among the top pain care doctors in New York City and the country. He is an award winning expert and contributor to a prominent media outlets.

Dr. Febin Melepura has been recognized for his thoughtful, thorough, modern approach to treating chronic pain and, among other accolades, has been named a “top pain management doctor in New York”, and one of “America’s Top Doctors™” for an advanced sports injury treatments.