Pain Treatments
Hyaluronic Acid Injection
Hyaluronic acid, also known as hyaluronan, is a clear, gooey substance that is naturally produced by your body. The largest amounts of it are found in your skin, connective tissue and eyes. Its main function is to retain water to keep your tissues well lubricated and moist. Hyaluronic acid is also found in the joints, where it keeps the space between your bones well lubricated. When the joints are lubricated, the bones are less likely to grind against each other and cause uncomfortable pain. Hyaluronic acid supplements are very helpful for people suffering from osteoarthritis, a type of degenerative joint disease caused by wear and tear on the joints over time.
The FDA has approved the use of hyaluronic acid (HA) for injection into the knee joint osteoarthritis. The HA is extracted from the comb of a rooster or made by bacteria in a laboratory using Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP). Viscosupplementation is a term used to mean that a joint lubricating substance is being introduced into a joint space. There are a number of different viscosupplementation formulations commercially available:
Synvisc One (Hyaln G-F 20)
Supartz (Sodium Hyaluronate)
Monovisc (only non-animal source of HA)
Orthovisc (highly purified HA)
What causes joint arthritis?
The source of joint pain can vary from person to person; however, the kind of arthritis referred to here is degenerative in nature. This means that there has been wear and tear to the smooth cartilage on the joint surface, which causes pits, like a pot hole in the road. When these cartilage cells are worn away, they can no longer produce the lubrication that is needed for the bones to move over each other with ease.
How does viscosupplementation work?
Are there side effects with viscosupplementation?
What happens after the procedure?
