What are Hip Injections?
Hip joint injections involve injecting medicine directly into the hip joint to diagnose the source of pain or treat pain due to conditions such as arthritis, injury or mechanical stress of the hip joint. Hip pain may be experienced in the hip, buttock, leg or lower back.
The injection contains a combination of numbing medicine and cortisone (an anti-inflammatory agent). The numbing medicine delivers temporary relief from pain, provided the hip joint is the source of the pain. It thus serves a diagnostic function and helps to confirm or deny whether the joint is the source of pain. Cortisone reduces the inflammation in the joint, providing long-term pain benefits.
Procedure of Hip Injection
If needed, a relaxation medicine is administered through an IV line. You will be made to lie face-down on an X-ray table. The small area where the injection needs to be given is numbed with an anesthetic. You may feel a sting for a few seconds. A small needle is then accurately placed by your doctor into the joint guided by real-time X-ray images (fluoroscopy). Before injecting the medicine, a contrast dye is injected through this needle into the joint to confirm that the medicine will reach the joint. A combination of anesthetic and anti-inflammatory cortisone is then slowly injected into the joint. The whole procedure usually takes about 30 to 60 minutes.
What to Expect After a Hip Injection
After the injection, you are made to rest for 20 to 30 minutes and then asked to move the joint to provoke the pain. You may or may not experience pain relief, depending on whether the injected joint is the main source of the pain. You will be asked to maintain a record of relief in pain in the coming weeks. Physical therapy may also be recommended. Even when pain relief is significant you should increase your activities gradually over one to two weeks to avoid the recurrence of pain.
Risks and Complications of Hip Injections
The possible risks of hip injections include:
- Swelling and pain in the joint after the injection
- Infection
- Depigmentation of the skin
- Local thinning of the skin
- Rupture of a tendon
If the injected hip joint is the source of the pain, the pain may reduce two to five days after the injection. However, if no improvement is found within ten days after the injection further diagnostic tests may be required to ascertain the cause of pain.
