The symptoms of an arthritis flare-up — pain, swelling, and inflammation — can really limit your daily quality of life. Instead of putting aside a plan or a project due to an arthritis attack, why not look into steroid injections for your arthritis?
At Synergy Rehabilitation & Wellness of Scottsdale, Arizona, our experienced care team provides comprehensive care and support to new and existing patients with arthritis. Under the leadership of Anthony Lee, MD, our team can relieve your arthritis symptoms with treatments that may include steroid injections.
If you’re interested in learning more about the potential of steroid injections to soothe your arthritis symptoms, here’s what you should know and what to expect when you come in for injection therapy.
Your body naturally produces steroids. With artificial steroid treatments, we can calm the inflammatory response that leads to arthritis symptoms like pain, swelling, and loss of range of motion.
While steroid treatments can’t cure your arthritis, they can provide quick relief for your debilitating arthritis symptoms.
The artificial steroid medication you receive in your injection isn’t the same as the steroids you might have heard about athletes using. While you can take steroid medications in the form of a tablet, an injection into the area affected by rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis can get to work right away for faster relief.
Depending on your treatment, you could see the effects on your symptoms immediately, or you may need to wait for a short period for your symptom relief results to fully kick in. The duration of your symptom relief after steroid injections also depends on your treatment plan and diagnosis.
With our Synergy Rehabilitation & Wellness team, you can benefit from our extensive expertise with injection therapies, including steroid injections for arthritis.
We work with you to put together your best treatment plan, including calibrating your dosage and recommending the right mixture of steroid medications to soothe your arthritis symptoms.
Your injection may target your inflamed joint directly, or we can target a neighboring muscle or the soft tissue surrounding the affected joint. Using ultrasound targeting technology, we can guide your injection with a high degree of precision and accuracy.
We also offer epidural steroid injections, targeting the site of painful nerves in the epidural space along your spine.
We can deliver steroid injections to patients of all ages, including younger patients with juvenile arthritis.
Treatment before your injection with a local anesthetic can effectively reduce any discomfort associated with the procedure. You might need support to get home after your treatment session due to lingering numbness in the treatment area.
Dr. Lee and his team monitor you for a few minutes after your injection to make sure you don’t suffer any adverse reactions. For the first two weeks following your treatment, you should take it easy and avoid stressing the treated joint.
Some patients notice a flare-up in the treatment area within the first 24 hours following steroid injection therapy. You can use over-the-counter pain medications to settle your joint pain, and the problem should clear up quickly.
Steroid injections form one part of your comprehensive arthritis treatment plan. Dr. Lee can work with you on other strategies to get your arthritis under control and restore your quality of life.
A few weeks after your injection therapy procedure, Dr. Lee might recommend that you start specialized exercises or physiotherapy as part of your long-term treatment plan.
To learn more about how steroid injections can help resolve your arthritis symptoms, get in touch with us at Synergy Rehabilitation & Wellness Center today. You can book your initial consultation by calling or use the online tool at your convenience.
