Anyone ever had cortisone shots?

[toban11]

Back in July I fractured (hairline) my wrist. The areas that were injured were my styloid and scaphoid bone. I heard that the scaphoid is one of the worst bones in your wrist to injure. I guess it is hard to heal? Currently I am going for physiotherapy. The therapist is giving me exercises to do at home and ultrasound therapy etc. He said if my wrist hasn't improved after 6-8 more ultrasound treatments, I should consult my doctor about having cortisone shots and seeing a hand specialist. The scaphoid area is still painful. Does cortisone really help with pain, relaxing the muscles? I suppose it is a temporary treatment?

[StarStrike]

Back in July I fractured (hairline) my wrist. The areas that were injured were my styloid and scaphoid bone. I heard that the scaphoid is one of the worst bones in your wrist to injure. I guess it is hard to heal? Currently I am going for physiotherapy. The therapist is giving me exercises to do at home and ultrasound therapy etc. He said if my wrist hasn't improved after 6-8 more ultrasound treatments, I should consult my doctor about having cortisone shots and seeing a hand specialist. The scaphoid area is still painful. Does cortisone really help with pain, relaxing the muscles? I suppose it is a temporary treatment?

Although I've never had a Cortisone shot myself, I can explain you the anatomy of why the scaphoid bone is hard to heal and why they'd give you cortisone if you like? (they taught us this in 3rd year Anatomy/Physiology lol)

[toban11]

Although I've never had a Cortisol shot myself, I can explain you the anatomy of why the scaphoid bone is hard to heal and why they'd give you cortisol if you like? (they taught us this in 3rd year Anatomy/Physiology lol)

That would be great if you could explain it to me. :)

[skuntbehavior]

Back in July I fractured (hairline) my wrist. The areas that were injured were my styloid and scaphoid bone. I heard that the scaphoid is one of the worst bones in your wrist to injure. I guess it is hard to heal? Currently I am going for physiotherapy. The therapist is giving me exercises to do at home and ultrasound therapy etc. He said if my wrist hasn't improved after 6-8 more ultrasound treatments, I should consult my doctor about having cortisone shots and seeing a hand specialist. The scaphoid area is still painful. Does cortisone really help with pain, relaxing the muscles? I suppose it is a temporary treatment?

i am sure the effects will be temporary. my wife gets the the shots in her right palm every 6 months or so due to a car accident she was in years ago.

[StarStrike]

That would be great if you could explain it to me. :)

The scaphoid bone is adjacent to the lunate bone and the triquetrum bone, These three bones are attached to your forearm (consisting of the Radius and Ulna, which are the two bones located there) through a Synovial joint. A Synovial joint is a joint that allows you to rotate your wrist, bend or flex it. Anyways, this joint is mainly made of cartilage and blood vessels cannot go through cartilage they can only enter through the bone. Since the Scaphoid is mainly covered in cartilage, there is a limited area for the arteries (vessels that carry blood) to enter the bone, so the blood has to go around the cartilage, to your fingers and then back towards the scaphoid bone. However, due to a fractured Scaphoid bone, that blood supply is cut off or kept to a minimum, hence the extremely slow heal time. As for the Cortisone, It's an anti-inflammatory drug that will decrease the swelling in your wrist. You must be feeling the pain in your wrist right now (sometimes it can be a sharp stabbing pain and it also may burn). It's really hard to explain how the inflammation occurs without getting into super crazy details. All you need to know about cortisone is a powerful anti-inflammatory drug, that will take down your swelling and cause your scaphoid to heal faster. That's if it doesn't heal earlier. If you must know, Cortisone is a Glucocorticoid that blocks the synthesis of several cytokines by inhibiting their transcription. Cytokines are chemical messengers found at the tissues, which are responsible for the inflammation (this mechanism is 99.9% a life-saver response, if we didn't have cytokines, we'd be dead) and the diversion of blood flow if possible to the area of injury. The cytokines that Cortisone inhibits would usually release Histamine or bradykinin causing the inflammation, so what this drug does is stop the cytokines from being released; therefore decreasing the swelling/inflammation.

[gh05t]

Doesn't prolonged usage of cortisone cause thinning of the skin? Or is this just with topical treatments?

Also you may want to look into using some Glucosamine and MSM to help rebuiding of the cartilage.

A product called DMSO has been thought to be useful in regeneration of cells but because ts mostly available as an industrial strength chemical and it highly pentrative of the skin and can transport unwanted stuff into the body it has been deemed dangerous by conventional medicine. It is a plant derive chemical. From many studies though lots of people have used it in an Aloe base at less than 99% concentration to great effect.

Side effect is garlic breath because of sulphur content.

Q ray and balance bracelets,copper etc are supposed to be good for the pain too.

[StarStrike]

Doesn't prolonged usage of cortisone cause thinning of the skin? Or is this just with topical treatments?

Also you may want to look into using some Glucosamine and MSM to help rebuiding of the cartilage.

A product called DMSO has been thought to be useful in regeneration of cells but because ts mostly available as an industrial strength chemical and it highly pentrative of the skin and can transport unwanted stuff into the body it has been deemed dangerous by conventional medicine. It is a plant derive chemical. From many studies though lots of people have used it in an Aloe base at less than 99% concentration to great effect.

Side effect is garlic breath because of sulphur content.

Q ray and balance bracelets,copper etc are supposed to be good for the pain too.

It's mainly limited to topical treatments. There are lots of possible side-effects with prolonged use of cortisone, but In this case the usage would only be temporary.

[toban11]

Thanks for info regarding the scaphoid bone and cortisone. Also I was wondering what is the difference between a hand specialist and a orthopaedic? I have seen two orthopaedics, but this physiotherapist recommended seeing a hand specialist. First I plan on asking my family doctor about having cortisone.