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Joint and Soft Tissue Injections
Joint and Soft Tissue Injections
Joint and Soft Tissue Injections
Are you suffering from a painful and swollen knee, or wear and tear arthritis in a joint?
Joint injections can help reduce pain and swelling and get you back to moving comfortably.
At Essex Private Doctors, we provide joint and soft tissue injections for painful joints and soft tissue problems such as tennis elbow.
About Cortisone Injections:
Cortisone (aka hydrocortisone) is a potent anti-inflammatory medication which can be injected directly into a painful joint or soft tissue. It can also be used to treat painful tendons, and bursitis (which is inflammation of a fluid-filled sac on the side of the hip and shoulder joints). The injection reduces pain, inflammation and swelling, and the effects can last for several months.
Steroids are made naturally by the human body, and steroid medication mimics the anti-inflammatory action of naturally occurring steroids. The steroid medications we use in injections (known as corticosteroids) are not the same as anabolic steroids used by body builders.
Steroid injections take a few days to ‘kick in’, and most people begin to experience the benefits after a week or two.
If you have a painful joint, make an appointment to see Dr Henry Grundy-Wheeler, who will assess your condition and examine you. You will be asked questions to ensure that you are suitable for an injection.
Steroid injections are not suitable for people who are pregnant (or are trying to get pregnant), women who are breastfeeding, if a person has any infection in the area of the proposed injection site, if a person has bipolar disorder or mania, or if a person has recently had, or is about to have, a vaccination.
If you’re on a blood thinning medication (such as warfarin or clopidogrel), or if you have a bleeding disorder (such as haemophilia), injection treatment is contraindicated.
If you have diabetes, you may need to monitor your blood sugar more carefully for a few days after the injection, as steroid may cause a temporary change in your blood sugar.
The injection site is then carefully cleaned, and local anaesthetic is carefully injected along with the cortisone. You may be advised to rest from exercise for a few days.
Apart from a little discomfort at the injection site, most people don’t experience side effects after the injection.
Side effects can include a little swelling or bruising at the injection site, a steroid ‘flare’ (which is when the steroid medication temporarily irritates the injection site before it begins to action), infection (which is very rare), and occasionally temporary menstrual disturbance.
Sometimes there can be slight thinning or change in the colour of the skin overlying the injection site, but this usually corrects after a few weeks.
Some people worry about potentially gaining weight after a steroid injection, but this is highly unlikely after a one-off treatment.
We commonly treat:
Knee osteoarthritis can be painful and debilitating. If you’re suffering from pain or swelling, or are struggling to walk or sleep comfortably, we can help.
Shoulder pain can be a misery – interrupting your sleep, and even making it difficult to put on clothes.
We can use corticosteroid injections to treat rotator cuff tendinopathy, subacromial bursitis, acromioclavicular (ACJ) joint pain, and frozen shoulder.
If you have tennis elbow and it’s not responding to physio, or is interfering in your daily life and work, injection treatment can get you back on track.
Golfer’s elbow is pain on the side of the elbow that can bring on pain when picking up a heavy weight, or even carrying a child.
Also known as prepatella bursitis, or ‘house maid’s knee, knee bursitis is a swelling on the front of the knee that comes on when an activity or occupation has required a lot of kneeling onto the knee. It can sometimes cause a very large swelling, which can restrict knee bending. Injection treatment can ‘switch off’ the inflammation, and settle the swelling.
Olecranon or elbow bursitis, is a painful swelling at the point of the elbow, which can sometimes become quite sizable. It occurs if there has been trauma to the elbow, or more commonly because of regular leaning on the elbow.
De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis is a painful condition affecting the tendons on the thumb side of the wrist. It’s very common in women who are nursing young babies, and it can cause a lump and even a creaking sensation on the side of the wrist.
If you’ve been suffering with joint pain, arthritis, or a soft-tissue condition, book an appointment today, and let’s get you back to being active.