P.T. Update

I'm into my third week of physical therapy and, up until Friday, things were encouraging. They still are I guess, but I don't want to get my hopes up and start day dreaming about returning to karate just yet. Even though I find myself doing this anyway.
Aside from the usual torture techniques, my therepist decided to try something new last week. It's called iontophoresis. This is done for my knee pain and involves electrical stimulation . They put 2 pads on each knee, one above and one right on the kneecap, with wires connecting the two pads and then they turn it on. It feels kind of like 50 or so pins pricking me on my knee for the duration of the treatment, which lasts about twenty minutes. It's not too uncomfortable.
Anyway, I noticed after the second treatment that I was feeling a little less pain. I figured maybe that was all in my head, but after the third application, there was no denying how much better my knees were feeling. Not completely better but maybe 50%.
After the third treatment on Friday, I asked my therapist what exactly this iontophoresis was doing to give me such relief and wanted to know how it worked. Well, I was kind of surprised at the answer.
One of the pads has some sort of cortisone on it and it is infused via the electricity into the knee. (I think this is how she explained it). It's basically like getting a shot of cortisone without the shot. Argh! I would've never done this had I known that! I've been turning down cortisone shots for years because I was told by a naturopath that is can deteriorate bone and that it's just a 'cover up' of the underlying injury. I am, however, enjoying the decrease in pain. I guess I'll just use the 'wait and see' approach and in the meantime, keep letting them 'electrocute' me.