Orthovisc Injections

[fitdeb]

Just wondering if any of you have had hyaluronic acid injections in your knees.

I have been dealing with a torn meniscus in my right knee that cortisone no longer seems to help. I have very mild osteoarthritis, nothing advanced enough to worry about something like knee replacement, and the meniscal tear cannot be repaired by surgery.

My main issue is "tightness" caused by both a Baker's cyst behind the knee and a lateral meniscal cyst.

I am scheduled for a series of 3 injections (each one week apart).

Any experiences you could share abot this procedure would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Deb

 

[psusoccer17]

I work in an orthopedic office, and have had the hyaluronic acid injections. They usually work quite well for meniscal tears. Please do not let them give you any more cortisone injections, the studies prove that cortisone can cause the rate of arthritis to accelerate. Here is one link regarding steroid injections. There are quite a few articles regarding this if you look. https://dailybulletin.rsna.org/db22/index.cfm?pg=22tue16
If the Orthovisc does not help there is a biologic option that works well called PRP. It requires a venipuncture, the blood is spun down and put into a centrifuge, and the PRP protein is then injected into the knee. It helps to ease the pain by providing healing. The only downside is that insurance will not pay for it. I have done this along with A2M injections and it has helped my arthritis pain.

 

[fitdeb]

I work in an orthopedic office, and have had the hyaluronic acid injections. They usually work quite well for meniscal tears. Please do not let them give you any more cortisone injections, the studies prove that cortisone can cause the rate of arthritis to accelerate. Here is one link regarding steroid injections. There are quite a few articles regarding this if you look. https://dailybulletin.rsna.org/db22/index.cfm?pg=22tue16
If the Orthovisc does not help there is a biologic option that works well called PRP. It requires a venipuncture, the blood is spun down and put into a centrifuge, and the PRP protein is then injected into the knee. It helps to ease the pain by providing healing. The only downside is that insurance will not pay for it. I have done this along with A2M injections and it has helped my arthritis pain.

Thanks for your comments...My new orthopedist specializes in sports medicine. She said the same thing about the cortisone injections. The orthovisc seems to be a good next step and we did talk about the possibility of PRP.

Would you tell me more about your experiences? Were you able to get back to your desired level of "work" in your exercise program?

I am having my first (of 3) injections today. I know that I need to "rest" for 48 hours, but after ...?

Thanks again,
Debi

 

[psusoccer17]

My arthritis is called patellofemoral (under the kneecap) with mild arthritis in the rest of the joint. I did not have Orthovisc, I had Euflexxa (same thing different companies). This did not help my knee pain, but we did not think it would help. I have tried multiple PRP injections from different companies, none of them helped. What did help was an A2M injection. A2M is specific for osteoarthritis. PRP is what we recommend for meniscal tears. I have never stopped exercising for the pain, but I do modify, no high impact!
What we do in our office after injections is show our patients quadricep strengthening and hamstring stretching exercises. Cathe's barre and floorwork is perfect for this, I do her turbo barre and/or fit tower legs and glutes weekly. Yoga and mobility have also helped a lot. The most important thing is to start exercising slowly and keep it low impact.