Why Cortisone Shots Didn’t Work
Cortisone shots are all the rage right now. If you have pain in your (insert body part), you’ll likely receive some pills to control your pain, and be told to get an X-Ray of the area. The purpose of the X-Ray is to rule out 3 main things: is it broken, dislocated, or arthritic. After the X-Ray, if it’s not broken or dislocated, you’ll discuss what was found and likely receive a cortisone shot to help with pain. The typical medical approach is to give cortisone shots for anyone with “pain” around the area, and anyone who has had a cortisone shot before, they know the effects will “wear off”. Even the person giving the injection says, “it’s likely this will wear off in 6-8 months…if it helps at all.”
Cortisone shots are “band-aid” treatments. They can help mask the pain for a little while, but don't usually get rid of the pain completely or forever. The problem with cortisone is that during this period of less pain, we continue to abuse our body in ways that we shouldn’t, but no longer have the pain signals to stop us. This leads to quicker degeneration of the area in question and by the time the effects of the cortisone wear off, the pain is generally worse.
The underlying dysfunction that caused the pain in the first place was never addressed. We are misguided to think that just because something doesn’t hurt, it means it’s “ok”. I hear this statement all the time “I don’t know what happened, I was totally fine. It’s a movement I’ve done a thousand times before with no issues, why now?” This occurs because it’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. The body will work perfectly fine until it can’t anymore, and that’s when everything starts to break down.
These problems in the body can be completely preventable with proper assessment and treatment. The reason the cortisone shots don’t work is because your body is continuing to produce inflammation because of the underlying movement dysfunction. If that issue is never addressed, when the cortisone wears off, the pain will come right back.
Now for a horror story. There was a gentleman that I saw after he received a shoulder replacement. He stated that his shoulder was in pain for over a year and received his cortisone shots as recommended by his physician. After the 3rd shot and worsening pain, they did more imaging and discovered his entire shoulder bone had disintegrated. The physician stated that it was a common side effect and is called necrosis of the bone. He ended up having to get an entire shoulder replacement due to the side effect of the cortisone shot, and his physician and surgeon both stated after the fact that it was a known side effect. Don’t let horror stories like this happen to you.
Get assessed today by your local Doctor of Physical Therapy to avoid these unnecessary surgeries.
Stay healthy Movers!
