ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Orthopedic Surgery
This article is part of the Research TopicRecent Advances in the Management of Osteoporosis: Prevention, Diagnosis and TreatmentView all 28 articles
Intracapsular Injection of Triple-Drug Solution in the Treatment of Early and Mid-stage Knee Osteoarthritis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
- 2People's Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, China
- 3The First People's Hospital of Qinzhou, Qinzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intra-articular injection of the "triple injection" in the treatment of early and middle-stage knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Materials and Methods: A total of 120 patients with unilateral KOA, recruited from October 2021 to December 2023, were randomly divided into two groups with 60 cases in each group. The control group received intra-articular injection of 2 mL sodium hyaluronate once a week for 5 consecutive weeks. The experimental group received intra-articular "triple injection" (0.3 mL betamethasone + 0.7 mL lidocaine + 2 mL sodium hyaluronate) in the first week, followed by intra-articular injection of 2 mL sodium hyaluronate once a week for 4 consecutive weeks. The clinical efficacy was evaluated using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) knee score, and flexion range of motion (ROM) before treatment, as well as 1 week, 4 weeks, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks after treatment. Results: Comparisons of WOMAC scores, VAS scores, HSS scores, and ROM before treatment revealed no statistically significant differences between the two groups (all P > 0.05). In contrast, statistically significant differences in WOMAC scores, VAS scores, HSS scores, and ROM between the two groups were observed at different time points after treatment (all P < 0.05). Additionally, the comparison of overall efficacy in K-L grade III patients between the two groups showed a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05), and no complications were observed in any of the patients. Conclusion: Intra-articular injection of sodium hyaluronate and the "triple injection" are both effective therapeutic modalities for the early and mid-stage of KOA. Compared with sodium hyaluronate, the "triple injection" can more effectively relieve pain and improve knee joint function.
Keywords: Betamethasone, function, Hyaluronic acid sodium, KOA, Triple injection
Received: 29 Nov 2025; Accepted: 26 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Li, Ning, Mo, Huang, Liu and Yin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dong Yin
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.