Will Injections Help My Knee Arthritis?

Exercise has been repeatedly shown to improve pain and function in those with knee osteoarthritis (OA). A common medical intervention performed is a knee injection with substances such as a corticosteroid or hyaluronic acid (HA). Injections are commonly performed in conjunction with physical therapy but it is unclear whether injections provide additional benefit over exercise alone.

Liles et al recently published a systematic review of the literature investigating multimodal approaches to knee OA treatment comparing exercise alone to exercise with injection. They found conflicting evidence for some studies where HA was the injected substance; however, the general conclusion was that adding injections to an exercise based approach did not provide superior effects in the treatment of knee OA.

If you have been diagnosed with knee arthritis and are seeking guidance, schedule an appointment with one of the expert clinicians at RISE to build an individualized program to address your goals!

Citation:

Liles SC, Bley B, White DK. The effects of exercise and intra-articular injections versus exercise alone for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis: A scoping review of the evidence. Osteoarthr Cartil Open. 2024 Mar 6;6(2):100456. doi: 10.1016/j.ocarto.2024.100456. PMID: 38511070; PMCID: PMC10951519.