So you’ve been told by your doctor to do cortisone injections for your knee pain because you either have arthritis or meniscus problems. Maybe you have another condition but they still said go in the cycle of cortisone injections every few months. THis can work for a period of time and then stops, or maybe it never worked to begin with.

Cortisone injections have a time and a place. THey can be really helpful for someone who is in absolute agony. I mean the pain is so bad they can’t sleep or move at all. They have pain at rest, they have pain with movement, they’re up all night because their knee feels like a deep gnawing ache. That’s when cortisone injections are helpful.

But what about other times: sometimes cortisone works and sometimes it doesn’t. 

Why didn’t cortisone help my knee pain?

Cortisone is a steroid, this steroid is injected into an area that has inflammation and pain. Inflammation is a part of the normal healing response to disease or injury. If the injury is new or the disease is in a flare situation the inflammation is acute. If the inflammation is causing the pain, the cortisone will eliminate or decrease the inflammation and the pain will resolve when the inflammation is gone.

If the inflammation isn’t localized to the knee the cortisone shot to the knee won’t work.

Often the inflammation starts in the knee, when there is an initial injury or from the initial wear and tear of arthritis. In this case cortisone injections work nicely as an anti-inflammatory and then gets rid of the pain, too. After a while the inflammation is no longer localized to the knee. The body has been fighting the inflammation and pain for so long that now the inflammation has travelled and it’s throughout the whole body.

If the cortisone injection only goes into the knee, but the inflammation is not coming from the knee the injection won’t work.

The inflammation must be localized to the knee for an injection at the knee to work.

Yes, the pain is present at the knee. But you’ve had a problem at the knee for a while so that’s a weak spot. Your brain is used to your pain coming from here. So when it’s not sure what’s going on or where the pain is coming from, or just because it’s a weak point the pain will come from here, even if the inflammation isn’t localized there.

So let’s recap: Inflammation is part of the normal inflammatory reaction in a disease process or injury. If the inflammation isn’t completely controlled it can move from just the knee joint (or other joint) and become chronic inflammation throughout the whole body. When that happens we call this systemic inflammation. To get rid of inflammation you need to do anti-inflammatory treatments. Cortisone is an anti-inflammatory steroid. Cortisone can be given as an injection which can help localized inflammation. But, injections don’t help for systemic inflammation, meaning if you get a cortisone injection in your knee if the inflammation is not localized to the knee the injection there won’t help. Instead you would need an anti-inflammatory treatment that works through the whole body, like a pill or something else.

If you’re looking for knee pain relief check out this free guide I created just for you