Do Botox injections offer a satisfactory non-surgical alternative for patients suffering with painful knee osteoarthritis?
Trials are underway, so stay tuned No longer the secret potion of women and men interested in hiding facial wrinkles between the eyebrows, around the eyes, on the forehead, and around the lips, injections of Botox are now thought to be useful for more than 50 medical conditions, including excessive sweating, constipation, headache, clubfoot, and even hiccups. We may be able to add severe knee pain from osteoarthritis to the list if the results from a small preliminary study — in which patients had a 50% or greater improvement in knee pain with Botox injections — can be replicated. Botox, derived from Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium that causes botulism, acts by binding to the nerve endings of muscles, blocking the release of the chemical that causes muscles to contract. When Botox is injected into a specific muscle, that muscle becomes paralyzed or weakened, but surrounding muscles are unaffected, allowing for normal function. The long-term effects of repeated Botox injections a
