Anesthesia injections can provide short-term relief of pain for arthritis pain in knees

BOSTON -- Patients with arthritis of the knee may find relief from locally injected anesthesia.  

In a randomized trial, researchers took about 60 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee and gave half of them an injection of an anesthetic around the knee to block the genicular nerves. The other half received placebo injections.

Most of the patients who received the nerve block said they had less pain but the effects lessened over the 12-week follow-up period.  

The researchers say this nerve block technique could be an effective short-term therapy for patients, especially for those who want to postpone surgery.