Cortisone Injections vs Posture Therapy
Many people who have joint pain eventually seek and often are given a cortisone shot (or multiple injections) to relieve their pain. While this sometimes does reduce joint inflammation and pain, there are serious risks associated with steroid injections that are becoming more widely known. A recent article from Radiology Society of North America describes some of these risks, and there are links in that article to other articles that provide more information.
The image here, from Very Well Health, lists some of the conditions that cortisone injections are meant to treat. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize that unless there was a traumatic injury to the joint, any one of these named conditions did not likely originate with a problem in (or with) that joint itself. These conditions are more often symptoms of another issue, which is the misaligned position of one or more joints.
Joints become misaligned for various reasons: a genetic issue the affects the body’s tissues, a traumatic event, or - in the majority of cases - because muscles have stopped working correctly. When muscles don’t work as they are meant to work, they are dysfunctional and other muscles compensate (try to do a job they were not meant to do). This results in pain and inflammation and degradation of muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints. And while treating joint pain with a cortisone injection may provide temporary relief, it does nothing to address and correct the underlying cause of the pain or inflammation, which is misalignment of the musculoskeletal system. Until the body is aligned, the joint or joints will continue to be eroded even if they are temporarily free of pain. Since only so many injections are allowed, and they provide temporary relief at best, many patients find themselves faced with the difficult decision to be disabled and live in pain, or have joint replacement surgery. This seems to be their own options.
However, there is another option. Whether you have had an injection or not, and even if your joints have been misaligned for years or have already had joint replacement surgery, posture therapy can help. Posture First Exercise Therapy identifies your posture deviations and prescribes customized routines that help to correct those deviations, bringing your body back into better alignment. As your body becomes straighter it will begin to be stronger, more flexible, more stable and better able to handle the various stresses placed upon it during your daily activities. A straighter, stronger body, with its eight load-bearing joints (ankles, knees, hips and shoulders) aligned means less wear and tear on your joints, more functional movement patterns because the muscles are no longer dysfunctional, less inflammation of muscles that have been compensating, and - most importantly - it means the reduction or complete elimination of your pain.
Clients who are committed to doing their prescribed exercise routines every day find themselves with a new lease on life, able to do more with less pain - excited to resume activities they thought they might never be able to do again. You can experience these benefits, too. Click here to schedule a free posture evaluation with Posture First Exercise Therapy.
