This treatment is suitable for people in cases of mild to moderate osteoarthritis, where the natural hyaluronic acid has decreased, causing joint pain and limited motion. This is especially true for those patients whose conservative treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatories or other methods such as physical therapy, exercise, weight loss and steroid injections have proved ineffective.
 
In addition to treating osteoarthritis, hyaluronic acid may also be used to treat the following problems:

• For the frozen shoulder, it may help reduce inflammation and swelling.
• For rheumatoid arthritis, it may help control inflammation and inflammation of the lining of the joints (synovitis) of the feet and ankles.
• For ankle sprain, it may help reduce pain and inflammation. 
• For tennis elbow, it may help reduce pain in the muscles and the inflammation of the tendons outside the elbow.

 
Treatment procedure
A local anesthetic will be applied to the affected area of the knee where the hyaluronic acid injections are done typically once a week for 3 to 5 weeks.  Studies have found that such injections yield good treatment results in the short to medium term, depending on the response of individual patients.  Hyaluronic acid injections have already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of osteoarthritis in the knee. In some cases, hyaluronic acid injections have been used in combination with platelet concentrate (PRP) and have been reported to provide even better results.
 

The chance of side effects is quite low. The injections could cause some pain or swelling at the injection site and are often easily relieved with rest and cold compresses.  Serious complications such as infection or serious allergic reaction are rare.