Joint Injections

What is a joint injection?

A joint injection is a treatment option for chronic joint pain that results from an injury or degenerative joint condition.

The team at Performance Pain and Sports Medicine offers in-office joint injections that contain steroid medications to quickly reduce inflammation that contributes to your pain. The injection may also include a local anesthetic that numbs surrounding nerves to increase the comfort and flexibility of your joint. 

Am I a candidate for joint injections?

Injections for chronic joint pain may be an option if other treatment methods, like medications, are not working well for you. 

When you take medications orally, the drugs travel through your digestive system and may not fully absorb into your bloodstream. By injecting the medications directly into your joint, you receive their full benefit. 

Joint injections may be part of your pain management plan for:

• Gout
• Bursitis
• Tendinitis
• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis

You may also be a candidate for joint injections if you have joint damage from an injury that causes pain and decreases your range of motion. 

Their high rate of success in making an accurate diagnosis allows doctors at Performance Pain and Sports Medicine to need fewer injections to complete your care.

What can be injected into a joint?

At Performance Pain and Sports Medicine, the doctors utilize different types of joint injections depending on the diagnosis. 

We can inject the following into joints:

• Steroids
• Local anesthetic
• Hyaluronic acid or gel
• Platelet rich plasma (PRP)
• Bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC)

Joint injections are an in-office procedure that requires no special preparation. During your appointment, your Performance Pain and Sports Medicine provider can utilize an anesthetic to numb the injection area for your comfort.  

Using a needle, your physician may first remove some fluid from your joint before injecting the medications.

In some cases, your provider guides the needle into the right place within your joint using ultrasound technology or fluoroscopy, a type of real-time X-ray technology. This guidance ensures pinpoint accuracy in delivering medications into your joint.

Following your injection, you can resume your usual activities. Your provider may recommend avoiding strenuous exercises for several days afterward. Some people experience immediate relief of joint pain, but it can take more time for you to see optimal results of your injection.

Your Performance Pain and Sports Medicine specialist continues to monitor your pain relief with a joint injection and may recommend additional injections to keep your pain under control. You can also contact your doctor directly with any questions after your injection treatment.

If medications are not enough to relieve chronic joint pain, find out if you’re a candidate for joint injections by calling Performance Pain and Sports Medicine today.