Hip Steroid Injections

What are Hip Joint Injections?

A hip injection involves injecting a joint medicine (corticosteroid) and a local anesthetic into where your leg joins to your hip joint. It’s a minimally invasive procedure that is used as a form of temporary relief to reduce pain and inflammation in your hip joint. It’s also used often as a diagnostic tool to reconfirm your hip joint holds the source of pain.

With your hip joint being the largest weight-bearing joint in your body and one of the most used, it’s prone to wear and tear, injury, mechanical stress, and a range of conditions. Your hip’s frequent motion can cause lower back and leg pain and radiating pain in your buttocks.

You can have a hip joint injection at Pro Spine & Pain within 15-30 minutes after an initial consultation. With a collaborative approach, we explore all treatment options for your hip according to your medical history, symptoms, and lifestyle. Book your next appointment with us at one of our five centrally located Wisconsin clinics and start your road to recovery.

Conditions Treated With Hip Injections

Often, hip injections are used to help manage a range of inflammatory diseases or pain caused by conditions and lifestyle factors such as the following:

• Infection
• Arthritis
• Bursitis
• Osteoporosis
• Herniated disc (sciatica)
• Poor diet
• Inflammation of the hip joint

It’s important to note that a cortisone injection in the hip injection is not a cure for these treatments but rather one aspect of treatment. The duration of pain relief can vary based on the type of pain, condition, and the amount of muscle relaxant medication administered. Usually, a hip joint injection can last several months.

Hip Joint Injection Procedure

A hip joint injection is a relatively straightforward and painless procedure. Our highly skilled anesthesiologists and pain management specialists, all licensed board members, regularly give these injections to their patients. Usually, if time permits, it can be done on the same day if not in a small minor 20-minute follow-up appointment.

Before administering the injection, they’ll run advanced diagnostic imaging tests to examine your hip joint in detail. If they feel a hip joint injection would suffice, they will provide you with prior instructions to avoid driving and strenuous activities and stop taking certain medications.

Then they will:

1. Face you down on an x-ray table, cleaning your skin over the hip
2. They’ll administer a local anesthetic to numb a small area of your skin within seconds
3. Next, they’ll use a fluoroscopy (a live x-ray) to ensure the accuracy of the needle placement into your joint. This x-ray provides them with images in real-time to help them guide the needle
4. Once the needle is in the right location, they’ll inject several drops of contrast dye to ensure the medication reaches the joint
5. If successful, they’ll use a mixture of anti-inflammatory medication (corticosteroid) and anesthetic injection to the joint.

Following the procedure, you’ll be observed for 30-60 minutes afterward to ensure no adverse reactions. After that, you’ll be discharged on the same day, and you can expect the injection to take effect any time between 24 and 72 hours following. With this being a minor procedure, you can return to your daily routine 24 hours later.

Pain Relief Following the Procedure

It’s normal to experience a slight increase in pain once the anesthetic wears off; this is a sign of the cortisone starting to work. If you find the area uncomfortable a few days afterward, apply an ice pack to the injection site.

On the contrary, if you notice no significant improvement in your pain ten days following, then you may need further diagnostic tests to locate the root cause. You may also be referred for physical or manual therapy in parallel to your injection to ensure it’s effective.

What are the Risks and Side Effects of Hip Injections?

While uncommon, there are some potential risks associated with this procedure. Our team prioritizes your safety and takes every precaution to minimize these risks.

These potential risks can include:

• Feeling faint (vasovagal response)
• Increased pain at the injection site
• Infection
• Bleeding
• Changes in skin pigmentation near the injection site
• Allergic reaction or unexpected response to the medication (ranging from mild to severe)
• Accidental nerve injury

This version avoids phrases like “minimal” and “rare” which are subjective. It also replaces “serious complications” with a breakdown of potential risks.