A cortisone shot usually starts to work within a few days, and can take up to a week. The relief then lasts anywhere from a few WEEKS to a few months.
How long yours lasts depends on what’s being treated. A shot for a flare of joint arthritis tends to be at the shorter end. A shot that lets you get moving again with a painful, stiff shoulder may give you a longer run.
The shot calms pain. It doesn’t fix the cause. What you do during the pain-free window decides how you feel when it wears off.
The first two weeks
- The first few hours: if a numbing medicine was mixed in, the area may feel much better straight away. This wears off the same day
- Days 1 to 2: the area can ache MORE than before. This flare is common and usually settles within a few days. See cortisone shot side effects
- Days 3 to 7: the steroid starts to calm things down. Most people notice a clear change by the end of the first week
- Weeks 2 to 3: the full effect is usually in place. If you’ve felt no change at all by now, the shot probably hasn’t worked this time
How long it lasts for common problems
- Knee or hip arthritis: usually short-term relief, often a few weeks. Guidelines describe the benefit as short-term. See cortisone shot in the knee
- Frozen shoulder: works best in the early, painful stage. The benefit fades over the following months
- Rotator cuff and shoulder impingement pain: helps in the short term, then fades. Exercise does better over the long run
- Outer hip pain (hip bursitis): eases pain early, but in a large trial it didn’t match exercise at one year
- Back and leg pain from a trapped nerve: an injection near the spine can ease leg pain for a while in some people. Results vary a lot
These are typical patterns, not promises. Some people get months of relief from one shot. Others get little.
Why it wears off
- The steroid is slowly cleared: it’s made to stay put and release over weeks, but your body gradually removes it
- It treats irritation, not structure: it can calm a swollen joint lining or an irritated tendon. It doesn’t regrow cartilage or repair a worn tendon
- The cause is still there: if the tendon is still overloaded or the thigh muscles are still weak, the pain tends to come back once the steroid fades
The shot buys you time. Exercise is how you spend it.
Use the window
- Rest for a day or two: go easy on the area right after the shot, especially if it was near a tendon
- Then start moving: from about the end of the first week, begin or restart your exercise program
- Build strength, not just range: the muscles around the joint take load off it. For the shoulder, see shoulder impingement exercises
- Don’t go straight back to heavy work or sport: the pain is quieter, but the tissue hasn’t changed yet. Build up over several weeks
- Keep going after it wears off: the aim is to be stronger by the time the steroid is gone
When a repeat shot makes sense
- The first one clearly helped and gave you a good stretch of relief
- You used that time well and you’re making progress with exercise
- It’s been at least three months since the last one. Most people shouldn’t have more than about three a year in one area
- It fits a plan, such as calming a flare so you can keep up your program
A repeat makes less sense if the first shot did nothing, or if each one lasts a shorter time than the one before. That’s a sign to rethink the diagnosis or the plan, not to keep injecting.
Call your doctor today if
- The area gets hotter, redder and more swollen after the first two days
- You have a fever or chills after the shot
- Your blood sugar stays very high if you have diabetes
Get it checked if
- You’ve noticed no change at all after two weeks
- The relief lasted only a few days
- You’re needing shots more often than every three months
- The pain comes back different, or with new weakness or numbness
Weeks to months of relief, and the part that lasts is what you build during it.