Transcript of a conversation (Dec 2, 2023) between Dr. Joshua John-Ram Schacter and Sam arguing that steroid injections—commonly used to delay joint replacement—are harmful long-term: they deposit crystals in joints, accelerate arthritis progression if used more than once or twice yearly, and increase tendon-rupture risk when injected into tendons, despite short-term anti-inflammatory effects.
So there are a lot of factors, I think, that, that, that lead me to conclude that delaying joint replacement for as long as possible is the best idea.
And what, what a lot of people get if they're trying to avoid having to have surgery is steroid injections.
Yeah. Yep. Steroid injections are a bad deal, which.
Is kind of a shocking thing to say. I mean, to me as a doctor, I was taught that that's what you do.
Yes.
And it's still.
Kind of the standard of care in the United States, unfortunately. We've known that steroid injections have been damaging to joints for, for many since intraarticular steroid injections in 1948. And we've known since about five years after that that they deposit crystals in the joint which damage joint cartilage. We know that, that if you have more than one or two steroid injections in a year, it will cause your joint arthritis to progress. You know, if we're doing steroid injections in tissues like a tendon, so your elbow or your, or your shoulder, it increases the risk that you'll rupture that tendon. So while they provide a really, a really potent anti inflammatory effect, the long term effects of steroids are very damaging. Sam.
She Traveled from Colorado for a Different Approach to Knee Pain | Lois’ Story
