2003 Volume 18 Issue 3 Pages 157-161
The aim of this study was to investigate whether local injection of high-dose lidocaine could attenuate tenderness and motion pain existing in the medial compartmental osteoarthritic knee. Seventeen patients who had tenderness and pain during walking at the medial compartment of degenerative femorotibial joint for more than 6 months were examined in this study. The knee pain during walking was assessed by the visual analog scale (VAS) score and pressure pain thresholds for tenderness at the site of the injection were evaluated by means of a hand-held pressure algometer. As for the treatment, 1 ml of 10% or 1% lidocaine was injected into the periarticular tissue of the most painful tenderness point of the medial femorotibial joint. These pain intensities were measured before (controls), 2 weeks and 4 weeks after the injection. Decreased VAS score (p<0.007) during walking and increased pressure pain thresholds (p<0.004) were observed 2 weeks after injection of 10% lidocaine and compared with respective controls. VAS score was significantly decreased throughout 4 weeks after the injection. At the same time, there was no significant difference before and after injection of 1% lidocaine. These results suggest that injection of 10% lidocaine may produce a more effective and long-term analgesia for pain following osteoarthritis of the knee, as compared with the injection of 1% lidocaine.
