Osteoarthritis of the ankle or other foot and toe joints can cause chronic pain that can be devastating. It can affect all areas of your life, limiting your ability to work and preventing you from recreational activities such as exercise, walking, hiking, tennis and golf. Morning pain and joint stiffness can be so severe that just getting out of bed becomes difficult.
Over-the-counter pain medications like Tylenol or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen may help relieve your osteoarthritis symptoms at first. However, these drugs have negative side effects such as gastrointestinal ulcers, high blood pressure, kidney damage, heart problems, and even stroke.
WHAT IS HYALURONIC ACID (HA)
Hyaluronic Acid, also known as HA, is one of the major building blocks of connective tissues in the human body. It is a major component of the smooth cartilage that lines the surfaces of
joints. It is slick and smooth and allows bones to glide over one another such as in the motion of your ankle joint and the small joints within your feet and toes.
HYALURONIC ACID INJECTIONS
FutureMed Regenerative Medicine Center offers Hyaluronic Acid injections to supplement damaged cartilage and help restore it to normal function.
ARE HYALURONIC ACID INJECTIONS SAFE AND EFFECTIVE?
HA was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration for Osteoarthritis treatment in 1997. Depending on the severity of the Osteoarthritis, treatment results can last anywhere from two months to a year and can be repeated without adverse side effects.
If you are experiencing pain, stiffness, locking or clicking in your ankle or other foot joints due to oseoarthritis or prior trauma, HA injections may help.
Euflexxa; Gel-One; Hyalgan; Hyalgan LL; Monovisc; Orthovisc; Supartz; Supartz FX; Descriptions. Hyaluronic acid injection is used to treat ankle and great toe joint pain caused by osteoarthritis (OA).
How do Hyaluronic Acid Injections differ from Steroid Injections?
HA injections are an effective and safe approach to combating Osteoarthritis of the knee for extended periods of time. Most of the scientific literature describes experience with HA knee injections. When either cortisone or HA was injected, cortisone was found to be more effective pain during weeks 1-4. By week 4, the two were equally effective. For long term pain relief after week 8, Hyaluronic Acid was more effective than cortisone, according to a 2009 Tufts University analysis of seven trials involving 606 participants.
Side Effects
There can also be some adverse side effects with cortisone injections. The most common side effect is called a ‘cortisone flare’; this is where the cortisone crystallizes in the joint, briefly causing more pain than originally present. Also, cortisone injections can weaken ligaments and tendons which can contribute to increased knee degradation over time. For this reason doctors usually allow no more than three to four injections of cortisone a year.
Dr. Qualtire recommends never injecting cortisone near any tendon.
Outcomes
The injections we administer not only help relieve pain and stiffness, they also allow some patients to postpone joint-replacement or fusion surgery temporarily or even indefinitely.
