What is a Hip Injection?
Doctors may recommend an injection of medication directly into the arthritic hip joint if pain produced by hip osteoarthritis prevents you from doing daily activities even after you’ve tried other medical treatments. Corticosteroid injections may relieve inflammation and pain.
Other therapeutic injections, such as hyaluronic acid, platelet-rich plasma, or stem cells, may alleviate pain and promote healing in damaged soft tissues. Your doctor will assess whether you are a candidate for these injections. Some patients find that therapeutic injections provide long-term pain relief while still allowing them to remain active.
Diagnostic Function:
The degree of rapid pain alleviation experienced after injecting numbing medication into the joint will help to confirm the joint as a source of pain. If complete pain relief happens when the hip joint is numb, this is most likely the source of the pain.
Pain Relief Function:
In addition to the numbing medicine, time-release cortisone is injected into the joint to minimize the inflammation to provide long-term pain relief.
Why is a Hip Injection Performed?
Conditions Treated With Hip Injections:
Hip injections can treat both acute and chronic hip pain in:
- Osteoarthritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Cartilage or labral tears
Osteoarthritis:
It is a type of arthritis that commonly affects the hips. It appears when the cartilage deteriorates. Pain and stiffness are common symptoms.
Rheumatoid Arthritis:
It is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s defense mechanisms attack the joints. Swelling, redness, stiffness, and joint warmth are common symptoms.
Hip Cartilage Or Labral Tears:
These are common injuries. The labrum is a cup-shaped cartilage component that serves as a hip cushion. Tears in this cartilage are common during sports and other activities. Pain, swelling, and joint popping are common symptoms.
Pain Management:
Patients may have a temporary increase in pain that lasts several days while the numbing medication wears off and the cortisol starts to take effect. If the area is sore for two to three days after the injection, administering ice or a cold compress to the general area of the injection site will usually provide pain relief. If the treated hip joint is the source of the pain, the patient may feel pain relief two to five days after the injection.
If there is no improvement within ten days after the injection, the patient is unlikely to benefit. More diagnostic testing may be required to diagnose the cause of pain. Patients may continue to take their regular medications following the treatment, except limiting pain medication for the first four to six hours after the injection to ensure reliable diagnostic information.
The doctor may recommend physical therapy or manual treatment following the injection while the numbing medication or cortisone is still active. Patients can resume their normal activities the next day after the surgery. It is OK to resume moderate activities when there is no pain anymore.
How is a Hip Injection Performed?
Fluoroscopy (live X-ray) is often utilized in hip joint injections to guide precise needle targeting to avoid nerve or other damage. The local anesthetic will provide immediate relief, while the steroid will provide longer-term comfort.
The injection has:
- An anesthetic medication (lidocaine or bupivacaine)
- A steroid medication (cortisone, Kenalog, or dexamethasone)
- An IV line will be started to administer sedative medication if necessary. The patient lies face down on an X-ray table, and the skin over the hip is cleaned. The doctor will numb the skin with an anaesthetic. For a few seconds, the patient may feel a sting. The doctor directs a small needle into the joint using X-ray guidance (fluoroscopy). Following that, several drops of contrast dye are injected to ensure the drug reaches the joint.
The doctor will then inject a small amount of anesthetic and anti-inflammatory cortisone.
The injection takes only a few minutes, but the total procedure takes between thirty and sixty minutes.
What To Expect After a Hip Injection
Following the hip joint injection, the patient rests on the table for twenty to thirty minutes. In most cases, the procedure is well-tolerated. The most uncomfortable part of the procedure is usually the localized burning sensation caused by the anesthesia. The patient can feel a pressure sensation throughout the treatment, which disappears within a few minutes. Mild discomfort for a week following the procedure is usual.
Patients may or may not get pain alleviation in the first few hours after the injection, depending on whether the injected joint is the primary source of the patient’s suffering.
For a few hours following the injection, the patient may feel numb or have a somewhat weak or strange sensation in the leg.
The doctor will recommend patients avoid driving and strenuous activity on the day of the injection. The patient will discuss immediate pain alleviation with the doctor and then notice pain relief over the next week. A pain diary is useful to inform the treating physician of the injection results and in planning further tests and pain management treatment, if necessary.
