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Musculoskeletal conditions are common ailments affecting 1.7 billion people worldwide. Some of these patients are treated with steroid injections into their joints. Additionally, joint injections have been employed for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes in several inflammatory or infective joint conditions.
Before the injections
Your doctor will evaluate your health status and medical condition in detail. Inform your doctor about any medications you are currently taking or any allergies you have.
During joint injection
Individuals receiving joint injections will be asked to lie on their stomachs on an X-ray table. The area to be injected is cleaned with an antiseptic, and a local anaesthetic is administered. With X-ray guidance, the needle is inserted into the targeted joint, and a combination of anaesthetics and steroids is injected.
After joint injections
You may experience mild soreness in the area of the joint injection, which resolves within a few days. If the patient gets relief from joint injections, further injections may be planned.
Joint injections are administered to reduce pain and inflammation in joints. According to studies, joint injections taken by individuals on oral anticoagulants do not pose any significant risk or bleeding complications. Talk to your healthcare provider to determine if joint injections can help with your musculoskeletal condition. If you are looking for the best Knee/Joint Care Hospital in Dhakuria, visit Manipal Hospitals.
Joint injections help insert several medications directly into joints, ligaments, or tendons. These injections are administered to manage pain, reduce inflammation, and heal the supporting structures. These joint injections help treat joint ailments in several areas of the body, such as the knee, hip, shoulder, ankle, spine joints, and sacroiliac joints.
Sacroiliac joint injections help diagnose and treat pain in the sacroiliac joint, a region in the lower back where the spine meets the pelvis. The medication injected into the joint helps with inflammation and pain, providing long-term pain relief. This treatment technique is employed for managing sacroiliac joint dysfunction or arthritis affecting the joint.
Most joint injections contain corticosteroids or hyaluronic acid. The injections contain:
Corticosteroid injections consisting of a mixture of lidocaine with methylprednisolone or lidocaine with triamcinolone
Synthetic hyaluronic acid is also administered along with lidocaine
Trigger point injections containing lidocaine or saline
Individuals with the following conditions can benefit from joint injections:
Osteoarthritis in multiple joints
Joint pain resulting from wear and tear
Bursitis
Tendonitis
Epicondylitis
Trigger finger
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Frozen shoulder
Joint injections may not provide symptom relief to all patients. Therefore, it is advised to work with your doctor for optimal treatment.
The advantages of undergoing joint injections are plentiful; some of them are:
The primary benefit is the ability to reduce pain and inflammation
Joint injections are a minimally invasive technique
Sometimes, these injections provide immediate symptom relief
Most people tolerate the injections well
The joint injections help control joint pain when other treatment options fail
However, the results of joint injections are temporary, lasting for a few weeks or months.
Joint injections are painful during the procedure. Therefore, an anaesthetic agent is administered to reduce discomfort during the procedure, and ultrasound guidance is used to minimise trauma to the tissues. There can be some amount of pain and discomfort for one or two days after joint injections, which can be managed with ice and over-the-counter pain medications.
The corticosteroid or hyaluronic acid constituents of joint injections do not help with joint repair or healing. They only help reduce inflammation and pain in the joints.
After administering joint infections, the anaesthesia wears off after a few hours, and you may develop more soreness in the joint. This may last for 2 to 3 days. If a steroid is given to the joint, it will begin showing its effects between 3 to 5 days after the injection.
However, if you notice there is a worsening of pain after injection, it may indicate synovitis or infection in the joint. If this happens, notify your healthcare provider immediately and seek immediate care.
The doctor advises resting the injected joint for at least 48 hours. This will help the injection work better. If it is not possible to rest the joint, avoid strenuous activity for 48 hours. Additionally, avoid lifting or pushing heavy objects for one-week post-injection.
Corticosteroid injections can be repeated for no more than three to four months, whereas hyaluronic injections can be repeated when the effects of pain control wear off.
Joint injections are a safe procedure with minimal risks. However, some complications may arise:
Infection risk: There is a very small risk of developing an infection. It is not advised to administer joint injections if broken skin or an infection is overlying the joint.
In some patients, there can be aggravation of pain, which is caused by the irritation of the joint lining by crystals present in steroid injections.
If the steroid is not injected inside of the joints or leaks out, there can be a possibility of minor injury to soft tissues, atrophy, or skin depigmentation.
Some patients may develop an allergy to the agents injected into the joint.
Patients with diabetes may experience a short-term elevation in blood sugar levels with a steroid injection.
Joint injections are contraindicated in the following cases:
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome: Any procedure may reactivate or aggravate the symptoms of the syndrome.
Avascular necrosis of the bone adjacent to the affected joint: Injecting the joints in such cases can aggravate the pain of avascular necrosis.
Failure to respond to the previous injection: If the patient does not get relief from symptoms, subsequent injections are not advised by the doctor.
If joint infections are not feasible for the patient, the doctors may recommend physiotherapy, anti-inflammatory medication, or surgery for severe cases as alternative methods of treatment.
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