Cortisone and other Corticosteroids

[bambam55]

My situation is that I have a torn meniscus and possibly more wrong in my left knee. With it being only two months away from my first game I'm am gonna hold out on the surgery until after the season. My coaches have been telling me that I should use cortisone about 3-4 times during the season to help me deal with it and stay on the field. I know how coaches can tend to be from time to time in that they only care about getting that win so I've been trying to research cortisone to understand more about it. I've already had one injection about two weeks ago.

From my readings it says you should only have a max of 4 injections in a year. Can this really be right though because I know the guys in the NFL will even go in and shoot up to get on the field. What are your thoughts?

 

[Arcane1129]

I have no idea, but I'm bumping this thread because now I'm curious as well.

 

[bambam55]

bump, can someone please help me out here

 

[Ironslave]

First, don't listen to your coaches on anything, they just go by their hunches, and experiences, they don't know WHY exactly it works, or what else it can cause.

Sorry I missed this first, you want to avoid injecting it in the joint/tendon, this will offer a quick fix but will just end up doing more harm than good. Overall they're probably pretty effective, but it can be abused, or if injected improperly it can do some damage. Check with your doctor, and ask them to read up on the literature.

 

[bambam55]

IS my ortho gave me an injection about a month ago and it was on the left side in the soft area beside the knee cap. After the injection my knee swole up for about a week. Could that have done some damage. I asked the doctor on my second visit and he said that rarely ever happens. I will be dealing with a different doctor when I go back to school, he will be the team doctor.

 

[Ironslave]

It started swelling more after cortisone? That is very very odd... as the whole point of them is to reduce swelling.

 

[bambam55]

Yeap thats what happened and thats exactally what the hell I was thinking. I was looking on the internet and it said that sometimes the cortisone can rupture the tendon, I dont know if maybe that was a possibility. I know what your saying though I'm gonna get in with our team trainer and doctor and listen to them, I know the coaches would shoot me up every game if it meant a win for them. I'm just curious as to how many is too much. I saw that if you have too much it can actually thin your cartlidge out and overtime cause more problems.

 

[Ironslave]

Yeap thats what happened and thats exactally what the hell I was thinking. I was looking on the internet and it said that sometimes the cortisone can rupture the tendon, I dont know if maybe that was a possibility. I know what your saying though I'm gonna get in with our team trainer and doctor and listen to them, I know the coaches would shoot me up every game if it meant a win for them. I'm just curious as to how many is too much. I saw that if you have too much it can actually thin your cartlidge out and overtime cause more problems.

Yeah, I was thinking of having one in my bicep (minor arthritis) but one of my good friends who is an orthopedic surgeon was highly against injecting it into the tendon. If done right they are generally well tolerated, but certainly can cause some deterioration, I mean, that's what corticosteroids do.

 

[power]

I am currently on Prednisone 15 mg per day; Symbicort for my asthma. Should i stop training while i am on these medications, becuase of the catbolic effects of these steriods? I train DC training style.

 

[tim290280]

Huh?

Why would you stop training unless you have a medical requirement not to? Sure you won't progress as much, but who cares.

Of course if you are prescribed corticosteroids then there is a good chance that you should have advice from your doctor about your training.

 

[power]

Thanks, tim, all is good i am back training with no problem

Huh?

Why would you stop training unless you have a medical requirement not to? Sure you won't progress as much, but who cares.

Of course if you are prescribed corticosteroids then there is a good chance that you should have advice from your doctor about your training.