When surgery for severe knee pain is not an option, a new study shows that Botox may be.
Often osteoarthritis sufferers will choose surgery to relieve their knee pain. But for patients that are too old, too fragile or too young to undergo surgery, injections of botulinum toxin type A, or Botox, might be the solution, say researchers from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Botox is best known as an agent to eliminate facial wrinkles.
Investigators tested Botox treatment on 37 men and women who had moderate to severe knee pain caused by osteoarthritis. At a one-month follow-up, study participants with severe pain who received the Botox injection reported a significant decrease in pain and improvement in physical function. The study was reported recently during the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Washington, DC.
