Antibiotics

• The first step when dealing with a case of septic arthritis is for your doctor to figure out which bacterium is causing the infection. Once this is done, he can than prescribe the correct antibiotics to fight the infection and alleviate the pain. The antibiotic may be injected into the arm initially. Later doses may be oral. How long you have to continue with antibiotic treatment depends on your health, the type of bacterial infection and the severity of it. Generally, antibiotics can be administered for up to six weeks.
  
  

Fluid Drainage

• When the infection gets in your joint, it causes damage and this is why you feel pain with septic arthritis. It's obviously very important that the infection is minimized in the joint as swiftly as possible. Taking out the infected synovial fluid helps with septic arthritis symptoms in three ways. It alleviates the pressure that the fluid creates. It removes damaging bacteria from the joint. And, it gives the doctor a sample of the bacteria so that she can prescribe the correct antibiotic. There are two methods for removing synovial fluid, through arthroscopic surgery and with a long needle called a arthrocentesis.
  
  

Physical Therapy

• Once the treatment of septic arthritis is well under way, your doctor will want you to make sure that you move the affected joint. The doctor wants to make sure that you retain movement in the limb and rebuild muscle lost because of a lack of use during the peak of the infection. Also, moving the joint increases the blood flow, which helps in healing.