Osteoarthritis (Joint Injections)

What is osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis is a degen­er­ative disease that causes pain and stiff­ness in joints. It is the most common type of arth­ritis in the UK.
Almost any joint can be affected by osteoarth­ritis and can be exper­i­enced to different degrees, but the condi­tion most often causes prob­lems in the weight-bearing joints of the hip and knee.

OSTENIL^® PLUS is one treat­ment for the symp­toms of osteoarth­ritis and has been specific­ally developed to treat the condition.

What is OSTENIL^® PLUS?

OSTENIL^® PLUS is a solu­tion containing hyalur­onic acid developed specific­ally for the treat­ment of osteoarth­ritis. It can be injected into the knee, or any of the other synovial joints in the body to decrease pain and stiff­ness and improve the other symp­toms of osteoarthritis.

It contains a higher concen­tra­tion of sodium hyalur­o­nate (hyalur­onic acid) than standard Ostenil^® and offers the option to reduce the number of injec­tions to one per treat­ment cycle. Hyaluronic acid is a natur­ally occur­ring molecule that helps provide cush­ioning and lubric­a­tion within a normal joint.

What is a synovial joint?

A synovial joint is one that allows for move­ment, like the knee, hip or shoulder. Where the bones meet, their surfaces are covered with a layer of thick cartilage and a thin layer of fluid (synovial fluid) that separ­ates and lubric­ates the two surfaces and protects the cartilage from wear and tear. The most important component of synovial fluid is hyalur­onic acid, which allows the fluid to perform effectively.

Normally there is an exact balance between the break­down of old hyalur­onic acid and produc­tion of new. However, in osteoarth­ritis, its break­down exceeds produc­tion, which leads to an imbal­ance and lack of hyalur­onic acid. The synovial fluid becomes watery and stops func­tioning effect­ively, allowing the cartilage of the bone to grate and wear more, causing the symp­toms of pain, stiff­ness and the swelling of the joints.

How does OSTENIL^® PLUS work?

This medic­a­tion is injected into the space between the joint that contains synovial fluid and works to restore the balance between the break­down and produc­tion of hyalur­onic acid. This effect means OSTENIL^® PLUS can help decrease pain and stiff­ness of the joint.

The hyalur­onic acid in OSTENIL^® PLUS is very pure and is manu­fac­tured using ferment­a­tion. Containing no animal proteins, it is unlikely to cause an allergic reac­tion, plus the addi­tion of mannitol (a sugar deriv­ative) helps the hyalur­onic acid to work for longer and more effi­ciently in the joint.

Treatment with OSTENIL^® PLUS

OSTENIL^® PLUS should be injected directly into the joint(s) affected by osteoarth­ritis by a fully qual­i­fied clini­cian. It is unlikely you will notice any bene­fits straight away, but you should gradu­ally begin to feel a reduc­tion in pain and stiff­ness over the following few weeks, which is likely to continue for several months.

When the effect of OSTENIL^® PLUS begins to wear off, if considered appro­priate by your clini­cian, you may safely choose to have another injec­tion whenever necessary.

Does OSTENIL^® PLUS have any side effects?

OSTENIL^® PLUS has been extens­ively tested and has not been found to cause any serious side effects, plus it contains no animal proteins, so is unlikely to cause an allergic reaction.

As with all injec­tions there is a very small risk of infec­tion and occa­sional post injec­tion pain at the site, which may last a day or so.

You should always consult with your clini­cian or ask your physio­ther­apist before begin­ning any new treatment.