Pain is a pretty common symptom among patients at your typical foot and ankle clinic. And why wouldn’t it be? In so many cases, we wouldn’t know there was something physically wrong with us if there was no pain to deal with. Notwithstanding that, one option we have for treating certain types of foot and ankle pain is the cortisone injection.
Cortisone is a corticosteroid capable of reducing inflammation. When combined with a local anesthetic, a cortisone injection offers immediate pain relief as well as extended relief as inflammation subsides.
Our foot pain doctors offer cortisone injections at Beyond Podiatry partner clinics in Michigan, Illinois, and Kentucky. Commonwealth Foot and Ankle in Louisville is the perfect example. Contact them, or any of our other partner clinics, to learn more about cortisone shots and how they help relieve pain.
Recommended Conditions for Cortisone Shots
While cortisone shots can help reduce pain, they are not appropriate for every painful medical condition. We offer them in podiatry for conditions like:
- Plantar Fasciitis – Inflammation of the fibrous band of tissue that runs along the sole of the foot, known as the plantar fascia.
- Tendinitis – Inflammation of a tendon. In podiatry, this could be any tendon in the legs or feet.
- Osteoarthritis – A degenerative joint disease resulting from lost cartilage between the bones of a given joint.
- Rheumatoid Arthritis – An autoimmune condition that causes an arthritic response in the joints.
These conditions have one thing in common: inflammation. Even though inflammation is a natural response to injury and illness designed to trigger healing functions, it is also a leading cause of pain. Cortisone shots relieve the pain by addressing inflammation.
Why Some Patients Choose the Shots
Perhaps you are the kind of patient who isn’t all that fond of needles and injections. You wonder why someone might choose cortisone shots for leg and foot pain. It boils down to the benefits. Depending on the level of a patient’s pain, enduring the discomfort of an injection might be worth it to gain the resulting benefits. Those benefits include:
- rapid pain relief
- improved mobility
- improved function
Some patients at our foot and ankle clinics prefer cortisone shots because they are noninvasive. There is no surgery involved, and we administer treatment right in our offices. The injections represent the optimal outpatient experience that involves very little downtime.
What You Can Expect
Should you choose cortisone shots as a treatment for your leg or foot pain, we want you to know what you can expect. As far as relief is concerned, you will experience immediate relief because of the local anesthetic we combine with cortisone. Longer-lasting relief will kick in within 12-36 hours as inflammation subsides.
In acute cases, patients can experience pain relief that lasts 4 months or longer. But with chronic conditions like plantar fasciitis, relief lasts about 3 months. Chronic conditions may require multiple injections to experience maximum relief.
Potential Side Effects
There are potential side effects, though they are typically nothing to worry about. They include thinning skin and temporary pain at the injection site, the risk of infection, and damage to tendons and cartilage. To limit the risks, doctors normally recommend getting no more than 3-4 shots per year.
Make an appointment at your nearest Beyond Podiatry foot and ankle clinic if you think cortisone shots might help your leg or ankle pain. An experienced doctor will consult with you about your condition and the most appropriate treatment. Cortisone shots might be your best bet.