The right option depends on what you need it to do

Movement, support, and ordinary medicine may be enough

Easy exercise keeps the muscles around the joint working. A cane or brace may help, and some people use medicine that calms swelling.

Ibuprofen and naproxen are common examples, though they won't suit everyone. Ask your doctor which movement and medicine are safe with your health history.

Steroid may ease soreness quickly, but relief can fade

Steroid calms swelling, and some people feel less sore within days. Others get little relief, and any relief may wear off.

I wouldn't choose by speed alone; I'd ask how long the change might last. Diabetes, planned surgery, and earlier steroid use can affect that talk.

Gel may help only a little, and PRP results are uncertain

Gel tries to copy some of the slickness of normal joint fluid. On average, the difference has been so small that many people may not feel a clear change.

For platelet-rich plasma, called PRP, the clinic spins your blood, gathers its platelets in less liquid, and puts that into the joint. Clinics prepare it differently, and research can't tell whether it will ease your soreness.

A bigger procedure doesn't promise a bigger benefit

Surgery may still make sense when heavy wear makes daily life hard. If someone says joint preservation, they mean trying to keep the joint working and put surgery off.

QC Kinetix may offer concentrated PRP, which means more platelets are gathered from your blood into a small amount; it calls this a regenerative treatment. Ask what the choice may let you do, what remains unknown, and when surgery would still deserve a talk.

Sources

1. The 2015 Cochrane review of 27 trials (1,767 participants) found intra-articular corticosteroid better than sham for knee OA pain (SMD -0.40, 95% CI -0.58 to -0.22; NNTB 8), but the benefit decayed with time: moderate at 1-2 weeks, small at 13 weeks, and no evidence of any effect at 26 weeks. All outcomes were graded LOW quality.

   Jüni P, et al. — Intra-articular corticosteroid for knee osteoarthritis.. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2015. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD005328.pub3.

2. In a 2-year double-blind RCT of 140 patients with symptomatic knee OA and ultrasound synovitis, 40 mg intra-articular triamcinolone every 12 weeks produced significantly greater cartilage volume loss than saline (index compartment cartilage thickness change -0.21 mm vs -0.10 mm; between-group difference -0.11 mm, 95% CI -0.20 to -0.03) with no significant difference in knee pain.

   McAlindon TE, et al. — Effect of Intra-articular Triamcinolone vs Saline on Knee Cartilage Volume and Pain in Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Clinical Trial.. JAMA, 2017. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2017.5283.

3. A 2022 BMJ systematic review and meta-analysis of 169 trials (21,163 participants) found viscosupplementation produced only a small pain reduction versus placebo (SMD -0.08, 95% CI -0.15 to -0.02; about -2.0 mm on a 100 mm VAS), below the minimal clinically important difference, and trial sequential analysis indicated conclusive evidence of clinical equivalence with placebo since 2009.

   Pereira TV, et al. — Viscosupplementation for knee osteoarthritis: systematic review and meta-analysis.. BMJ, 2022. DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2022-069722.

4. The RESTORE randomized trial (288 participants, leukocyte-poor PRP, 3 weekly injections) found no significant difference from saline placebo at 12 months in knee pain (-2.1 vs -1.8 points; difference -0.4, 95% CI -0.9 to 0.2) or in medial tibial cartilage volume (-1.4% vs -1.2%), with 29 of 31 secondary outcomes also showing no between-group difference.

   Bennell KL, et al. — Effect of Intra-articular Platelet-Rich Plasma vs Placebo Injection on Pain and Medial Tibial Cartilage Volume in Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis: The RESTORE Randomized Clinical Trial.. JAMA, 2021. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2021.19415.

5. The 2019 ACR/Arthritis Foundation OA guideline makes a STRONG recommendation for intra-articular glucocorticoid injection in knee OA, alongside strong recommendations for exercise, weight loss, self-management, tai chi, cane use, bracing and NSAIDs; intra-articular steroid injection for HAND OA is only conditionally recommended.

   Kolasinski SL, et al. — 2019 American College of Rheumatology/Arthritis Foundation Guideline for the Management of Osteoarthritis of the Hand, Hip, and Knee.. Arthritis Rheumatol, 2020. DOI: 10.1002/art.41142.

6. The 2025 Cochrane living review of stem cell injections for knee OA (25 trials, 1,341 participants) found stem cell injection MAY slightly improve pain and function up to six months versus placebo (pain 1.2 points better on a 0-10 scale; function 14.2 points better on 0-100), but rated the evidence LOW certainty for both, downgraded for indirectness and suspected publication bias, with up to three larger RCTs withdrawn before reporting results.

   Whittle SL, et al. — Stem cell injections for osteoarthritis of the knee.. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2025. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013342.pub2.

7. FDA's HCT/P guidance sets out the minimal-manipulation and homologous-use criteria that decide whether a human cell or tissue product is regulated solely under 21 CFR Part 1271 (section 361) or requires a biologics licence; cell-based orthopaedic injections that fall outside those criteria are unapproved drugs and biological products, and no cell-based product is FDA-approved to treat osteoarthritis.

   U.S. Food and Drug Administration — Regulatory Considerations for Human Cells, Tissues, and Cellular and Tissue-Based Products: Minimal Manipulation and Homologous Use - Guidance for Industry and FDA Staff. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2020.

8. A 2021 JAMA review of hip and knee osteoarthritis places intra-articular steroid injections as providing SHORT-TERM pain relief within a management model whose cornerstones are exercise, weight loss if appropriate and education, complemented by topical or oral NSAIDs, with joint replacement reserved for advanced symptoms and structural damage.

   Katz JN, et al. — Diagnosis and Treatment of Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis: A Review.. JAMA, 2021. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2020.22171.

9. An analysis of 37 randomized PRP trials found no significant difference in qualitative conclusions or outcome scores between industry-affiliated and non-industry-affiliated studies; overall, 19 of 37 (51.4%) reported PRP as favourable and 18 (48.6%) found no difference from comparators.

   Ta CN, et al. — The Influence of Industry Affiliation on Randomized Controlled Trials of Platelet-Rich Plasma for Knee Osteoarthritis.. Am J Sports Med, 2023. DOI: 10.1177/03635465221140917.

10. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 randomized trials (1,023 subjects) assessed intra-articular hyaluronic acid for glenohumeral (shoulder) osteoarthritis pain, evaluating hyaluronic acid plus physical therapy against physical therapy alone among other comparisons.

    Familiari F, et al. — Efficacy of intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid in patients with glenohumeral joint osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.. J Orthop Res, 2023. DOI: 10.1002/jor.25648.