Intra-articular steroid injections for painful knees. Systematic review with meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Do intra-articular steroid injections relieve the pain of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee?

DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, Cochrane, and Internet databases were searched for randomized controlled trials.

STUDY SELECTION: Five randomized controlled trials involving 312 patients were found.

SYNTHESIS: One week after injection, treated patients were less likely to have continuing pain and had significantly lower scores on a visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain. Three to 4 weeks after injection, treated patients still had significantly less pain, but their VAS scores were no longer significantly lower than scores in the control group. Six to 8 weeks after injection, neither pain reduction nor VAS scores were significantly different between groups.

CONCLUSION: Intra-articular corticosteroid injection results in clinically and statistically significant reduction in osteoarthritic knee pain 1 week after injection. The beneficial effect could last for 3 to 4 weeks, but is unlikely to continue beyond that.