Many people often seek out cortisone to deal with pain or discomfort. Although this may provide a temporary decrease in pain, there is reason to believe it can actually cause more damage over the long run.
A new study with 140 subjects had half of the patients receive triamcinolone injections into their knee to help treat arthritic pain. The other half received a placebo in the form of saline injections. After two years, the subjects who had received the real injections were not in any less pain and actually exhibited a greater volume of cartilage loss.
Conclusions
Although cortisone injections may be tempting, this may not be the best long-term solution for treating joint pain. Individuals should consider the long-term ramifications on the health of the joint before using these injections to treat pain.
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