SHANA: We’re here today at Pinnacle Orthopedics, and we’re here with Dr. Schachter. Thanks so much for being with us.

DR SCHACTER: Thanks for coming down.

SHANA: Yes. Well, you are an expert in the field of orthopedics. You know all about joint pain and many of you out there have tried steroid injections for treatment, for joint pain. What are your thoughts on that?

DR SCHACTER: Well, steroid injections are something that have been around since 1948. We’ve been doing steroid injections into joints for pain and to into tendons for four years. And for the last 20 to 30 years, we have known that steroid injections are damaging to tissues. Now, steroid injections are a foreign material that we inject into your joint. They form crystals in a tissue that we put them in like a rotator cuff or tendons in your shoulders, in your knee and the problem is those that that substance will then damage that joint. That’s the issue. It’s a very potent anti-inflammatory. So, it helps with the symptoms, but it doesn’t help in the long term. Part of the problem with steroid injections is one that they’re temporary. Right. They don’t last very long, maybe 3 to 5 months and then you have to have a third injection again. We also know that they damage all of the tissues that we put them in. So, if you have an injection into your tendon, there’s a good chance that you’ll have a tear in that tendon or your tear will worsen. We also know that your arthritis worsens when we do a steroid injections. So, if we do more than two or three in a year, it can really accelerate your need for a joint replacement and if our goal is to try and keep patients from having a joint replacement or having a major surgery, then steroid injections are sort of working against that goal. Add to that, we have we have so much better options than steroid injections.

Right now. We have biologics options like platelet rich plasma or stem cell injections that can really help with the joint and preserve its function for a very long time.

The other from the steroids is they affect your metabolism. So many of us have diabetes. And if you if you get a steroid injection, it can make your blood sugar go crazy and make you feel bad. So steroid injections really as an option are sort of fading into the background. That’s old school medicine. We need to move forward into the future.

SHANA: So, call Dr. Schachter today at Pinnacle Orthopedics, where they’re taking their patients to the peak of wellness.