An increasing number of patients are being admitted to hospital with infected knees after being injected with hyaluronic acid – despite the unproven arthritis treatment being discouraged by several medical bodies.

While a large body of evidence suggests the injections don’t work, they are being offered at radiology clinics across the country as a treatment for osteoarthritis.

Knee infections in people without knee replacements are rare. But three doctors who spoke to this masthead said they had each seen several patients who had infected knees after receiving the injections.

Orthopedic surgeon Ian Harris and his colleagues have seen three patients with infected knees in the past few months.

Original source: au