Joint Pain Relief: Why Injections May Be Your Best Option

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Benefits of Joint Injections

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• Joint injections deliver a small dose of anti-inflammatory steroid directly to the site of the joint problem, ideally resulting in decreased inflammation and as a result, decreased pain for a period of time.

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• However, the effectiveness of joint injections varies widely. Some patients are highly responsive to steroids and from a single injection, can experience pain relief that lasts for months or even years, enabling them to delay the need for surgery indefinitely. But for others, the degree of pain relief and the duration of that relief may be shorter.

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• For patients whose age or pre-existing health conditions make them ineligible for joint replacement surgery, repeated joint injections can be a viable solution for long-term pain management.

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What is involved with a joint injection?

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• During a joint injection, a healthcare provider – will use a needle and syringe to apply a small amount of medication directly to the site of inflammation in the joint.

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• The medication used is a steroid such as triamcinolone, which is a localized anti-inflammatory and different from the anabolic type of steroids people use to build muscle.

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• Joint injections usually combine anti-inflammatory steroids together with lidocaine, which causes initial numbness to the area, and helps the steroid disperse through the joint. A well-placed injection will provide immediate pain relief because of the lidocaine.

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Where are the most common locations for joint injections?

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• Steroid injections are most often prescribed because of arthritis or other inflammation that causes pain in a joint.

 

• The most common sites for joint injections are the shoulders, hips, knees, spine, and the base of the big toe and thumb, but many other joints can also be treated with this method. Sometimes steroid injections can also treat inflammation in tendon sheaths.

 

• The anatomical structure of each joint can affect the difficulty of the procedure. The amount of pain involved in an injection varies by joint, and depends on the size of the joint area, the amount of inflammation, the size of the needle, and the patient’s anxiety level.

 

• Some joints, such as those that are smaller and more sensitive (like in the hands and feet) are so painful to inject that a doctor may refuse to administer injections to those areas.​​​​​​​

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