Can Hyaluronic Acid Save Your Joints?

You have joints, or places in your skeleton where two or more bones connect, all over your body. You rely on those joints for smooth yet controlled body motion. Knees, hips, shoulders, fingers – joints aren’t just everywhere in your skeleton but also key to your physical functioning. So, what do you do when your joints start to break down?

Degenerative conditions like osteoarthritis (OA) attack your joints, causing pain and dysfunction. While OA can’t be cured, you can do much to relieve its worst effects on your joints. 

Under the leadership of board-certified orthopedic surgeon Dr. Richard Han, the team at Burlingame Orthopedics provides joint care and preventive advice from a convenient location in Burlingame, California.

Let’s take a closer look at hyaluronic acid, one of the treatment tools our team may recommend to improve joint function and relieve shoulder pain, knee pain, and more.

Using hyaluronic acid for joint care

Your body already takes in hyaluronic acid through your diet. But if you have joint issues, you might want to supplement your intake! The benefits of hyaluronic acid as a joint treatment come from its similarity to the naturally occurring lubricants present in healthy joints.

As OA affects your bones, it causes degeneration in the cartilage that protects and cushions the ends of your bones. As cartilage breaks down and vanishes, the exposed ends of your bones can grind painfully against each other where they connect in your joints. And, without cartilage to smooth motion, you might find that your joints lose free or full range of motion.

Hyaluronic acid helps restore mobility to joints damaged by OA. By utilizing this treatment, you may be able to stop the progression of joint deterioration. This can help you delay or prevent the need for surgery, such as surgical joint replacement. You can also combine hyaluronic acid joint injections with other preventive strategies for more comprehensive results.

Formats for hyaluronic acid joint treatment

Hyaluronic acid treatments are available as a targeted injection, or as an oral medication. Talk to your Burlingame Orthopedics provider about the best treatment for your condition, lifestyle, and care needs. We offer hyaluronic acid formulations in solution, or as a gel or jelly.

If you’ve already tried pain relief and management strategies like over-the-counter pain medications and found insufficient symptom relief for joint pain, it might be time to try hyaluronic acid injections. This type of treatment often proves effective when other strategies haven’t worked well enough.

After your injection treatment or supervised medication regimen, you may very well find your joint pain substantially decreasing and your quality of life expanding. You can stay active, engaged, and healthy when your joints work properly.

Is hyaluronic acid treatment the right solution for your joint pain, degeneration, or damage concerns? To learn more about this type of treatment, including whether you could be a good candidate for pain-relieving joint injections, consult with the experts at Burlingame Orthopedics.

Schedule your initial consultation appointment by giving us a call today, or request an appointment online now with our easy-to-use scheduling tool.