Anti-Inflammatory Injections
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Injuries, inflammatory arthritis, infections, or overuse are common causes of joint pain. A rheumatic condition that affects joints, bones, and muscles can also lead to acute joint pain and inflammation. Over 200 types of rheumatic disorders exist, including arthritis, gout, and lupus.
As far as arthritis pain is concerned, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are well-known culprits. Anti-inflammatory injections can provide lasting pain and inflammation relief for these types of disorders. If you think you may benefit from anti-inflammatory injections, our patient advocates and skilled doctors at NJ Spine & Orthopedic can help.
Whether you’ve recently developed joint pain or have been dealing with it for a while, you may be curious about your treatment options. Medication, such as ibuprofen, could be beneficial. However, if you’ve had long-term joint pain, anti-inflammatory injections can provide pain relief benefits.
To some extent, inflammation causes most, if not all, joint pain. Anti-inflammatory injections, in this case, reduce inflammation in and around joints, working to minimize pain. Some anti-inflammatory injections relieve pain by inhibiting enzymes or collagen-producing cells in the affected area. This action alleviates pain by suppressing inflammation and calming nerves. Anti-inflammatory injections are classified into two types: systemic and intra-articular.
Systemic anti-inflammatory injections are delivered through the muscle or vein to treat pain throughout the body. The most commonly used systemic anti-inflammatory injection is ketorolac (Toradol). It’s also a potent non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication that helps reduce inflammation and provides pain relief like opioids.
Intra-articular anti-inflammatory injections are highly effective at treating specific types of pain. For example, a combination of nerve-blocking medication and steroids can be used on patients with chronic osteoarthritis of the knee. The drug effectively relieves pain and reduces inflammation for weeks to months.
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Anti-inflammatory injections can treat nearly every joint pain in the body, even in difficult-to-reach areas. A physician can use an ultrasound machine to navigate the needle to the desired area. A fluoroscopy x-ray machine may also be used to find an injection site that’s too small to reach with the treatment needle. The knee, hip, wrist, and spine are the most commonly treated pain areas with systemic or intra-articular anti-inflammatory injections.
Surgeons also target facet joint diseases between the spinal epidural space, or nerves, veins, and arteries within the spinal canal. Facet joint injections may be administered in the neck, lower and upper back regions of the backbone, or spinal column. Orthopedic surgeons will administer a nerve block to paralyze the nerve tissue temporarily. The nerve-blocking procedure allows patients to participate in physical therapy or other rehabilitation exercises. It’s also given to patients to assist a spine surgeon in determining the exact source of neck or lower back pain.
Anti-inflammatory injections are a good option for pain relief if prescription painkillers haven’t helped and if you’re not quite ready for surgery. Anti-inflammatory injections come in different varieties.
Corticosteroid injections, also known as steroids, are anti-inflammatory medications used to treat various medical conditions. Steroid injections are synthetic versions of hormones produced by the adrenal glands. Injections of steroids into a muscle or joint alleviate inflammation in the affected area. Healthcare professionals administer corticosteroid injections to treat joint pain and stiffness, arthritis, sciatica, and more.
Most doctors prefer to use cortisone shots containing a corticosteroid drug and a local anesthetic. The injections help ease pain and inflammation in joints such as the spine, shoulder, ankle, hip, elbow, knee, or wrist. Depending on your diagnosis and treatment plan, your orthopedic specialist may recommend epidural steroid injections to treat spinal pain or pain caused by an inflamed spinal nerve.
As aforementioned, the facet joint injection is used to relieve pain in the neck, middle back, or lower back. Sacroiliac injections are used to treat pain in the sacroiliac joint and help with lower back, buttock, and leg pain. If you have osteoarthritis and want an alternative to surgery, your orthopedic surgeon may suggest viscosupplementation injections. They are used to inject hyaluronic acid into the joint to help increase the viscosity of joint fluids and thus improve joint mobilization.
Anti-inflammatory injections, like any other substance introduced to the body, may cause side effects. For example, while cortisone shots can provide relief for about three months, they are no longer as effective after that period. More importantly, continued cortisone injections may worsen conditions like tennis elbow by degrading tendons over time.
When anti-inflammatory medications are injected into joints, the problems are usually caused by the injection, not the drug. Patients also run the risk of bleeding, joint infection, or joint damage. However, if a physician with extensive training and experience administers anti-inflammatory injections, the side effects are significantly reduced.
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Anti-inflammatory injections can relieve chronic back, neck, or joint pain, along with symptoms of inflammation. If your joints hurt and your physician recommends anti-inflammatory injections, medications combined with a local anesthetic may provide long-term relief. Anti-inflammatory steroid injections work by reducing inflammation to relieve pain.
Note that not everyone is a candidate for anti-inflammatory injections. Our medical professionals at NJ Spine & Orthopedic are happy to evaluate your medical history and current health to determine the best course of action for your condition. Our Concierge Team is also readily available to help you coordinate all aspects of your appointments, from gathering medical records to helping you answer any questions. Call us at (866) 553-0612 or fill out our online contact form to begin your pain assessment today.
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