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Hi Paula!   Just before I answer your specific question, let me tell you about our sister site, MyOsteoarthritisCentral.com, which is all about osteoarthritis, treatment and living with it. If you seek any more information or have any more questions, you may want to look there. You can also click this text to sign up for our osteoarthritis newsletter.   Now, to your question: I don't think are any steroids given orally for osteoarthritis patients. Instead, the steroids are typically injected into the inflamed joint. Double-check with your doctor. Steroid injections are commonly used to thwart osteoarthritis pain. But they're not a cure. Steroid shots are useful only if inflammation is present in the joint.and this treatment is rarely used for chronic osteoarthritis. The bigger downside is that steroid injections may not be as effective for women as for men. There are also hyaluronic injections for osteoarthritis pain.     But there are many medications available for treating osteoarthritis pain besides steroids. Talk to your doctor about what kinds might be best for you.