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Joints affected by injuries or arthritis often cause chronic pain that frequently becomes disabling. At NeuroSpine Center of Wisconsin’s offices in Appleton, Oshkosh, North Fond du Lac, and Bellevue, Wisconsin, the physical medicine specialists use steroid joint injections to reduce inflammation and pain. If conservative treatments aren’t working, joint injections could be the answer. To find out, call your nearest NeuroSpine Center of Wisconsin office today.
Joint Injections Q & A
What are joint injections?
Joint injections reduce pain and inflammation caused by injury and disease. They contain a powerful steroid medication that has long-term anti-inflammatory properties. Often, injections contain a local anesthetic, which offers fast, total pain relief for several hours.
Sometimes, the NeuroSpine Center of Wisconsin team might remove (aspirate) joint fluid before your injection. They send the fluid for lab analysis to check for joint infections and uric acid crystals (the cause of gout, a form of arthritis).
Joint aspiration can also help reduce pain if fluid has built up in the joint.
What do joint injections treat?
Joint injections can help with most causes of joint pain. Common problems include the following:
Arthritis
Arthritis causes long-term joint deterioration, pain, swelling, stiffness, and weakness. Symptoms worsen over the years, sometimes causing significant disability. The pain can flare up at times from a dull ache to excruciating, throbbing pain and tenderness.
Of the 100 or so forms, osteoarthritis is the most common. It’s a wear-and-tear condition caused by decades of movement, which erodes the articular cartilage protecting the bones in your joints. Osteoarthritis can affect any joint, whereas gout most often affects the toes. Other forms of arthritis include ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis.
Acute injuries
Sports injuries like tendon strains and ligament sprains are usually acute — they happen suddenly, causing immediate pain and loss of function. Proper treatment should heal these injuries within a few weeks or months, but sometimes, they persist and become long-term problems.
Overuse injuries
Overuse can also cause joint pain, which typically develops gradually. Common examples include tendinitis (inflammation affecting the tendons) and bursitis (inflammation of the fluid-filled bursae cushioning your joints).
Joint injections are available for large joints like hips, knees, shoulders, elbows, and ankles, and smaller joints in the feet and hands. Injections are also invaluable for the facet joints in your spine and the sacroiliac joints in your pelvis, which can cause back pain.
What happens during a joint injection?
Joint injections are outpatient procedures. You receive an anesthetic to numb the injection site, and the NeuroSpine Center of Wisconsin team uses diagnostic imaging technology to view the joint in detail. They inject the medication into the area responsible for your pain, using the imaging to guide them. This ensures accuracy and minimal tissue damage.
Afterward, you can go home. The local anesthetic wears off in a few hours, but the steroid can help reduce joint pain for several weeks or months.
Call NeuroSpine Center of Wisconsin to learn more about joint injections today.