How Hyaluronic Acid Injections Can Alleviate Arthritic Knee Joint Pain

Everyone feels a bit achy and sore after a tough workout, a few hours of yard work, or any other activity that pushes their physical limits. But for the tens of millions of Americans who live with osteoarthritis, joint pain isn’t an occasional occurrence — it’s a near-constant state of being.

If you have osteoarthritis in your knee joint, you know firsthand how much it can impact your mobility, turning even the simplest tasks into major challenges. And when stiff, achy knees make it increasingly harder for you to climb the stairs, get in and out of the car, or simply go for a walk, it’s time to take control.   

Here at Gulf West Medical Associates in Port Richey, Florida, our team, led by Board Certified Internal Medicine Physician Dr. Rajesh Daver, wants to get you back on your feet easily. Let’s explore how hyaluronic acid injections work to lubricate and cushion dry, deteriorating knee joints, reduce osteoarthritis-related inflammation, and provide long-term pain relief.

Osteoarthritis and chronic knee pain

To understand how hyaluronic acid injections work to alleviate osteoarthritis-related joint pain, it’s essential to understand precisely how this degenerative disease affects your joints.

Osteoarthritis is a chronic wear-and-tear condition that causes the gradual breakdown of cartilage, the smooth tissues that cushion and protect the ends of your bones where they meet at the joint.

As if having less cartilage between your bones weren’t painful enough, osteoarthritis also actively diminishes and degrades hyaluronic acid, a vital shock-absorbing substance in your synovial fluid that lubricates and buffers your joints.

Early on, osteoarthritis's bone-on-bone sensation may make your knees feel stiff and achy. As it continues to progress, however, it often gives rise to less tolerable, more restrictive pain that impairs joint function, range of motion, and mobility, often to the point that routine tasks — particularly those that place any type of load on your knees — are noticeably harder to perform.

When most or all of your joint cartilage is gone, you may also experience a grinding sensation or hear loud popping or crunching sounds as the bones in your knee joint rub against one another.

Hyaluronic acid injection benefits

Initially, osteoarthritis-related knee pain may respond well to a combination of conservative treatment solutions like over-the-counter pain relievers, exercise, weight loss, and a detailed physical therapy program that addresses specific imbalances around the affected joint.

But while traditional osteoarthritis pain management strategies may be helpful early on, they don’t always provide adequate relief as the condition progresses.  

If this sounds familiar, it may be time for hyaluronic acid injection therapy, a more targeted treatment approach that supplements the same lubricating substance found in the synovial fluid of your knee joint to address osteoarthritis-pain — from the inside out.  

When carefully injected into your knee, hyaluronic acid helps restore shock-absorbing joint fluid to optimal or near-optimal levels. This highly effective solution can help ease osteoarthritis-related knee pain for months at a time by cushioning your bones, coating your nerve endings, and re-lubricating your joint.

Pain management solutions you can trust

Depending on your condition, hyaluronic acid therapy typically consists of a course of 3-5 injections, each spaced 1-3 weeks apart. If you have osteoarthritis pain in both knees, you may be able to receive dual injections.   

While everyone responds differently to hyaluronic acid therapy, most people notice significant symptom improvement in just a few days. Effective pain relief, increased range of motion, and improved mobility typically lasts 4-5 months following a full course of injections.

In some cases, osteoarthritis-related pain and stiffness may stay away for up to a year.

Although you won’t necessarily need to rest your joints following a hyaluronic acid injection, you should avoid prolonged weight-bearing activities for a day or two.

Because it’s safe to repeat hyaluronic acid injections, you may be able to seamlessly continue your therapy as soon as your osteoarthritis symptoms begin to re-emerge.

If over-the-counter pain medication, exercise, and physical therapy no longer take the edge off osteoarthritis-related knee pain, we can help.

Book an appointment with Gulf West Medical Associates today by calling our office at 727-848-0247 or using our online booking tool.