A Steroid Injection for Bone-on-Bone Arthritis? Not So Fast!
Sometimes, arthritis gets so bad that nothing seems to help, and people decide they are ready for joint replacement surgery. When that time comes, some patients are surprised to learn they will have to wait a few months because they recently had an injection of a steroid or hyaluronic acid. Waiting is not the only issue. The injections do little to relieve pain when someone has bone-on-bone arthritis and is a candidate for joint replacement. If there is any pain relief at all, it is very short-lived, and most patients are very disappointed. The other issue is that patients who receive a steroid or hyaluronic acid injection should wait approximately three months from the date of their last injection to have a hip or knee replacement. This is because studies have demonstrated an increased risk of infection in the first three months following these injections. When elective surgeries resumed after the pandemic pause, I saw five patients over a two-week period whose joint replace...