After your cortisone joint injection treatment, it’s recommended to avoid using the affected joint for the next couple of days. As well, to avoid swimming, or even soaking the area in water, and instead, have a shower the days following the injection. Within four to five days after the cortisone joint injection treatment, you should be able to resume your normal activities. If not, contact your doctor to speak to them about how you are feeling, and what is hurting if anything. However, unless you experience a cortisone flare, your joint pain should subside relatively quickly after the injection is administered. It is important to space out the cortisone injections over a period of a year, as having them too close together or even exceeding three or four treatments over a span of 12 months can having negative effects.