How Effective Is Viscosupplementation in Remedying Knee Pain

Knee pain is often due to arthritis, a degenerative joint condition, and dealing with it can be challenging. You rely on the knee joints to sit down, stand up, and walk around all day, which aggravates the pain and stiffens the joint. 

Knee pain specialist Glenn M. Flanagan, MD, uses viscosupplementation to treat knee pain here at Naples Regenerative Institute, located in Naples, Florida. Viscosupplementation is commonly used for knee pain and offers significant improvements in your symptoms.

What happens when your knee joints break down

Inside your knees and other joints is a lubricating substance called hyaluronic acid. It helps your joints move smoothly. The hyaluronic acid covers the smooth cartilage within the joints, which also helps promote smooth movement. 

One of the effects of arthritis is the wearing down of the cartilage inside the joints. When the cartilage wears down, the natural lubricating hyaluronic acid decreases. That is a major contributing factor to the pain and stiffness you experience in your knees when arthritis affects them.

How knee viscosupplementation can help

Viscosupplementation is an injection procedure that replaces the diminishing hyaluronic acid inside your knee joints. During the procedure, Dr. Flanagan injects hyaluronic acid directly into the knee joint using imaging technology to guide the needle with precision. You get local anesthesia beforehand to numb the knee, and Dr. Flanagan might drain excess fluid retention before the injection. 

Unlike other treatments for knee pain, viscosupplementation doesn’t use corticosteroids or other anti-inflammatory medications to eliminate swelling. As early as one week after your treatment, you can experience a reduction in pain and improvements in knee function, too.

Research shows that a remarkable 60-70% of people with osteoarthritis in the knee experienced significant improvements in knee pain for months after the treatment. 

If you find that your knee pain improves after viscosupplementation and want to continue with the treatment, you can repeat the procedure after six months. You can repeat the process for as long as you continue experiencing positive results. 

How to prepare for your first treatment

Before you try viscosupplementation, be sure to let Dr. Flanagan know of any medications you take regularly, even if they’re not prescription. Ahead of your injections, you can eat and drink as you normally would. Dr. Flanagan lets you know if you need to stop taking any medications or if you need to take any other steps to make the process easier.

Ready to try viscosupplementation for your knee pain?

Viscosupplementation is a conservative procedure that helps people with knee pain avoid surgery. If you’d like to discuss viscosupplementation with Dr. Flanagan, schedule a treatment consultation over the phone or online at Naples Regenerative Institute today.