A word on cortisone and orthopods:

Cortisone is like a bandaid. It can be put to "good" use getting you past the pain "hump" of a minor, self repairing injury (like a bandaid on a minor laceration). It can also be used very poorly to coverup an injury that REALLY deserves to be addressed in a more comprehensive fashion (like a bandaid placed over a 4" deep puncture wound). A lot of docs are unfortunately needle happy and rely far to heavily on cortisone. My point being, cortisone is OK for pain but it fixes/addresses NONE of the underlying issue(s) and is rarely if ever the comprehensive "answer."

So using metalheart as an example (hope that is OK) if one develops a meniscal tear in one knee that is "solved" by a cortisone injection and then later develops the same symptoms in the other knee then chances are VERY good that one should look to the root cause of the injuries. A non-sports med orthopod may be a great surgeon but that doesn't mean he/she know jack about your sport specific issues.

If you are cycling a lot then get the opinion of a good sports med doc who knows knees and cycling really well. Maybe better, get the once over from a sports med specialist who does medical bike fits. The root of the injuries may very well be linked to a minor fit issue causing undue stress over the 1000s of pedal strokes each ride and aggregated throughout a season. The cortisone may make you "feel OK" but if internally you continue to exacerbate the damage then you are really doing yourself a disservice....

just 2 cents from someone who works (and suffers) in the orthopedic/sports med world....