This study, presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America on November 29, 2023 shows that steroid injections can actually worsen knee arthritis over time. Better is hyaluronic acid injections. They are equally effective at reducing pain but don’t lead to increased osteoarthritis, but actually can help slow it down.
Statistical analysis showed that corticosteroid knee injections were significantly associated with the overall progression of osteoarthritis in the knee, specifically in the lateral meniscus, lateral cartilage and medial cartilage.
Hyaluronic acid knee injections were not significantly associated with the progression of osteoarthritis in the knee. Compared to the control group, the group who received hyaluronic injections showed a decreased progression of osteoarthritis, specifically in bone marrow lesions.
"While both corticosteroid and hyaluronic acid injections are reported to help with symptomatic pain relief for knee osteoarthritis, our results conclusively show that corticosteroids are associated with significant progression of knee osteoarthritis up to two years post-injection and must be administered with caution," Dr. Upadhyay Bharadwaj said. "Hyaluronic acid, on the other hand, may slow down progression of knee osteoarthritis and alleviate long term effects while offering symptomatic relief."