# Do Steriods continue healing days or weeks after taking them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 29, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-steriods-continue-healing-days-or-weeks-after-taking-them/654285 "2013-03-29T19:10:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-steriods-continue-healing-days-or-weeks-after-taking-them/654285/1 "2013-03-29T19:10:27Z")
Moms developed an incredibly painful hip condition. The iliotibial band is tight or sticking? She describes the pain as an ice pick in her hip. She had the same thing 3 years ago. Steroids and several weeks of aggressive PT exercise fixed it last time. This time the hip pain is worse. The orthopedist gave her a one week supply of steroids. Take a bunch day 1, less day 2, even less day 3. By day 7 I think its only 1 pill. Then nothing happens for two weeks until she sees the Doctor. He’ll probably order PT then. Do Steroids continue healing for a couple weeks after you take them? We’re just confused why the delay in starting PT exercises. She’s on day 4 of the steroids and she’s still in a lot of pain. They don’t seem to offer fast relief at all. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-steriods-continue-healing-days-or-weeks-after-taking-them/654285/2 "2013-03-29T20:43:54Z")
(IANAMD) Steroids don’t heal anything. They are strong anti-inflammatories. They are supposed to be used for a short period of time to alleviate pain caused by inflammation. They offer symptomatic relief but do not address the underlying problem causing the inflammation and pain. Most doctors, IMHO, will not prescribe more than a few cortisone shots. Too much cortisone can cause serious side effects. Does she do stretching exercises for the ITB? If not, the therapist can show her a few exercises. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-steriods-continue-healing-days-or-weeks-after-taking-them/654285/3 "2013-03-29T20:57:28Z")
The doctor said he’d start mom on physical therapy in a couple weeks. Right now its too painful. She can barely walk and even sitting hurts. I guess they are waiting for the inflammation to go down? We just weren’t sure if she’d continue getting better after the steroids run out. I recall three years ago that she didn’t get completely pain free until after several physical therapy sessions. ITB is rough. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-steriods-continue-healing-days-or-weeks-after-taking-them/654285/4 "2013-03-29T21:48:10Z")
Not to be too pedantic, but to expand a bit on **barbitu8** ’s point, steroids actually [impede](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10326344) [healing](http://archsurg.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=390751). ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-steriods-continue-healing-days-or-weeks-after-taking-them/654285/5 "2013-03-29T23:43:52Z")
Interesting. Not a Doctor. But, it seems like reducing inflammation is often the first step towards healing. Ice packs, heat packs and so on are supposed to help with that. \ We’re just following the Orthopedist’s orders now. I’m a bit frustrated because my mom is in a lot of pain and what he gave her isn’t doing much good. Stronger pain meds would have helped a lot. I’m hoping the inflammation is going down. That may be why she’s hurting so much. That iliotibial band creates a lot of pain. I know mom said her PT three years ago felt like someone was stabbing her thigh with a butcher knife. The therapist really gets in there kneading and tugging on that band to free it up. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-steriods-continue-healing-days-or-weeks-after-taking-them/654285/7 "2013-03-30T05:27:45Z")
> [@brownsugar](#): > > steroid may kill the hormone content of your body so don’t use it at the beginning it may feel like having more power but you will soon realize that your loosing your control without steroid. I believe you are confusing _corticosteroids_ with _anabolic_ steroids. The OP is discussing corticosteroids. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-steriods-continue-healing-days-or-weeks-after-taking-them/654285/8 "2013-03-30T20:34:43Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Interesting. > > Not a Doctor. But, it seems like reducing inflammation is often the first step towards healing. Ice packs, heat packs and so on are supposed to help with that. > > \ We’re just following the Orthopedist’s orders now. I’m a bit frustrated because my mom is in a lot of pain and what he gave her isn’t doing much good. Stronger pain meds would have helped a lot. > > I’m hoping the inflammation is going down. That may be why she’s hurting so much. That iliotibial band creates a lot of pain. I know mom said her PT three years ago felt like someone was stabbing her thigh with a butcher knife. The therapist really gets in there kneading and tugging on that band to free it up. Inflammation is the body’s attempt to heal. When you initially irritate a part of your body, the first step is to ice it, to prevent inflammation, or, at least, to minimize it. This will reduce the swelling and reduce the healing time. After 24 hours or so, you should apply heat to foster healing. From KarlGauss’s link: > [@](#): > > Steroids and retinoids have antagonistic effects on growth factors and collagen deposition in wound healing. These effects can be relevant for treatment options in a clinical setting. At any rate, cortisone should be a one-time, two-time, or possibly 3-time use as it can lead to serious side effects. [http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=13098](http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=13098) ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-steriods-continue-healing-days-or-weeks-after-taking-them/654285/9 "2013-03-30T21:28:13Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I believe you are confusing _corticosteroids_ with _anabolic_ steroids. The OP is discussing corticosteroids. He does (unintentionally, I think) bring up a good point: the reason they taper off the steroids like that is because if you’re taking them as pills at way higher doses than the body naturally generates, it doesn’t take long for the body to give up on producing them. You can get really, really sick if you abruptly stop steroids that you’ve been taking for a while (classically \>10 days).