What Is a Cortizone Shot Used For?
- Cortisone "shots" are often given directly into a joint to combat the pain and inflammatory effects of degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Occasionally mixed with a local anesthetic, these injections can give often mid-to-long-term pain relief.
- When gout flares up, it typically involves a joint that the condition has "picked on" to inflame. Joints that are frequently affected are the knee, ankle and the first joint of the big toe.
When this occurs, the synovial lining of the joint becomes seriously inflamed from uric acid deposits into the joint and on the joint cartilage surfaces. The resultant pain and swelling can be so severe that even the weight of a bed sheet can be excruciating.
Cortisone shots in this instance are used to calm the inflamed synovial lining and to help lessen any further damage to the joint by the flare-up. - Occasionally areas such as the elbow, knee cap, shoulder and hip can display episodes of inflammatory bursitis. The bursa sacs are usually difficult to treat by the oral medication route, and when a concentrated dose of steroid is needed in a finite location, injections is usually preferred.
The steroid is injected directly into the bursa sac. Sometimes the "cortisone" is mixed with a local anesthetic to provide relief from pain until the steroid begins to work. - In some cases, mild forms of carpal tunnel syndrome can be treated with a cortisone shot. If the condition is not chronic and severe, the effects of the steroid can help decrease inflammation and swelling that can serve to exert pressure upon the median nerve causing the symptoms.
The steroid is injected into the carpal tunnel so the medication can coat and "bathe" the nerve and tendons. - One of the most common and classic conditions involving bone spurs that is treated with cortisone injections is the heel spur. The spur can occur with or without the presence of plantar fasciitis.
The steroid is typically injected directly through the heel into the area where the plantar fascia and the bone spur connect. Not always a pleasant injection, cortisone typically has very good results when used in this manner. - Cortisone can be given as an epidural injections into the spinal canal to treat the effects of degenerative spine conditions, nerve impingement and disc hernia.
These are typically administered by a pain management physician; typically an anesthesiologist and can be done in groups of three injections spaced one week apart. The steroid helps decrease inflammation of the involved spinal nerve(s) that are irritated by pressure applied to them from bulging discs or arthritic degeneration.