Joint Injections
Atlas Pain and Spine uses joint injections to help relieve joint and arthritis related pain when conservative measures have failed. Generally, the injection is carried out with x-ray guidance to ensure the medication gets inside the joint where it will have the best effect. Local anesthetic and steroid are injected which help to provide almost immediate pain relief (from the numbing local anesthetic) and longer-term pain relief (from the anti-inflammatory effects of the steroid).
Steps:
1. Overview: Your vitals will be taken, a safety check performed and your medical history updated. You’ll then be brought to the procedure suite.
2. Sedation and Positioning: You will be positioned lying down on your stomach or back, depending on your specific site of pain. Sedation may be administered intravenously and the skin over the procedure site may be numbed.
3. Injection: Using X-ray guidance a needle will be inserted into the painful joint. Contrast medication that shows up on X-ray will be given to confirm the location of the needle. Next, steroid and local anesthetic will be injected to help provide fast and long-term pain relief. A band-aid will be applied to the injection sites. You’re all done! Generally, the procedure itself will only take a few minutes. Variations may be made to accommodate for patients’ individual conditions or allergies.
4. Recovery: Our staff will take you to a recovery area where you’ll be monitored for any unlikely issues or complications, and follow-up appointments will be scheduled.