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A study published in the U.S. journal of American Medical Association on steroid use for knee osteoarthritis was recently published. It said that with every two years of using it, can lead to cartilage loss.

Timothy E. McAlindon of Tufts Medical Center in Boston, MA, and his colleagues found that Intra-articular Triamcinolone is indeed used to address inflammation. Although, this can be responsible for worsening condition of knee osteoarthritis (OA).

As per MedicalNewsToday, based on the research, McAlindon and his colleagues are against the injections for knee treatment. Basically, there is no particular treatment of OA. These steroid shots and treatment may help to manage some symptoms but may even make the condition worse, instead of giving pain relief.

Triamcinolone Is Liable For Greater Loss Of Bone Cartilage Volume

The research team looked for 140 people with knee arthritis symptoms. All patients had inflammation of the synovial membrane.

According to the study, the team selected 70 patients who took a steroid named corticosteroid triamcinolone every 12 weeks for two years. The remaining 70 patients were given a placebo in the form of saline solution.

It was found out that patients who received triamcinolone were diagnosed with more loss in cartilage volume (0.1 millimeters), than the patients received placebo. They only lost only 0.10 millimeters of cartilage thickness.

Moreover, the research also proved that there is no relief in pain level. The patients suffered the same leve of pain in both cases of receiving both triamcinolone and the placebo. Mostly, this injection is effective for short-term pain relief, whereas placebo effects no change in functions or stiffness while walking.

Why Is Placebo More Effective?

It could be in the form of tablet or shots. The proedure seems to be a real medical treatment but isn’t.

The researchers during studies used a placebo to understand the effect of the medicine they are looking into. “These findings do not support this treatment for patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis,” the researchers concluded, as reported by MedicalXpress.