“inflammation is now understood to be a key mediator of OA that contributes to cartilage loss and progressive degeneration of affected joints… OA is no longer considered a noninflammatory arthritis or a ‘wear and tear’ disease”
I heretofore thought age-related cartilage loss was the cause of osteoarthritis and inflammation. Turns out it’s the other way around: the inflammation degrades cartilage. Okay, no more slogging through joint pains for me, regardless of how small.
Edit: added a phrase for clarity
My back and knees tingle reading this. Just waiting on the knee cortisone inflammation to ease off 😉
Bruddah/sistah/non-binaryah, I know your pain intimately. I got my first shot in the knee 3 months ago. “And to think… I hesitated.” Sending warm recovery thoughts your way. What kind of physical therapy regimen does the sawbones have you on?
Arthritis in both knees more severe with the one and the torn cartilage which I’m only on my second injection so far while I await a specialist. Can do any exercise as long as it’s not impact oriented so no running, jogging or fast walks. Can still row and cycle. Then there’s the OA in the lower back which just gives way when I look at things wrong.
Kind’a kneeew it was coming and put off getting it checked out whilst I was young. Things catch up eventually 😉
Thankfully I live in a place with universal healthcare. Takes a little longer but I’m not out of pocket.
Read up on cortisone - related cartilage/tendon concerns.
Your doc probably overstates the risk a great deal. Check NLM for studies, it looks like there’s a risk, but all the studies are of patients with injury and on-going degeneration. By the time you get to injections you’ve exhausted other treatments.
Huh, a TIL within a TIL! :D I came across this systematic review (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4622344/). Looks like for cortisone <6mg is the sweet spot.