Hip Joint ASpirations and Injections

What are Joint Aspirations and Injections? 
Joint Aspirations and Injections are non-surgical treatments used for treating inflamed, swollen, and painful joints. Joint aspirations are also used as a diagnostic technique. Your doctor may recommend joint aspirations and injections if your joints are not healing with conventional medicine.

Joint Aspirations and Injections are both used to treat the various joints of the human body. They are especially common for the shoulder joint, hip joint, ankle joint, knee joint, and elbow joint.

Arthrocentesis or Joint Aspiration is a process in which excess fluid around a joint is removed through a syringe. Excess fluid is removed from two places:

• The joint.
• The protective sac around the joint called the bursa.

On the other hand, Joint Injections is a medical technique in which medicine (commonly steroids) are injected into the joint to provide relief from the symptoms of various diseases. Most commonly, Joint Aspirations and injections are administered to patients of arthritis.

Who Needs Joint Aspirations and Injections?
You may need a Joint Aspirations and Injections for multiple reasons. Let’s look at the reason for joint aspirations and joint injections separately:

Reasons for Joint Aspirations

• If the doctor wants to get a definitive diagnosis for your joint condition

The symptoms of joint diseases can be the same, which makes it hard for the doctor to diagnose the definitive cause of your pain. Doctors use joint aspirations to determine the disease or medical condition, which is affecting your joints. The surgeon/doctor will extract the synovial fluid from your joint and send it to the lab for examination.

The biochemical composition of the fluid will tell the surgeon which joint condition is causing pain in your joint. Most commonly, it is used to differentiate between inflammatory or non-inflammatory arthritis. 

• To relieve pressure and cure symptoms

If your joint or your bursa is inflamed, excess synovial fluid will build up in the bursa. This excess fluid puts pressure on the joints, causing pain, swelling, and sepsis. The doctor will recommend a joint aspiration to remove this excess fluid to relieve pressure from the joint and quicken the healing process.

• If you need injectable medicine in your joint

Joint aspirations are used to make room for joint injections. At times, the doctor will remove some of the fluid in your joint or bursa to inject medicine such as cortisone or hyaluronic acid.

Reasons for Joint Injections

• Symptoms are not cured by conventional medicine

Joint injections deliver medicine directly into the affected area (your joint or the bursa). This increases the effectiveness of the medicine. If your symptoms are not cured even after taking conventional medicine for more than three weeks, than the doctor will prescribe joint injections.

• If your joints are Inflamed

If your joints are inflamed because of infection or sepsis, and they have not been cured by traditional medicine, then the doctor will inject medicine directly into the joints to reduce inflammation.

• If you have arthritis

If you have arthritis, then the doctor will inject steroid medication in your joint to relieve pain.

How are Joint Aspirations and Injections Performed?
The procedure for Joint Aspirations and Injections is performed as an outpatient procedure. This means that the patient does not have to be admitted in the medical center for treatment; they can leave the center after the procedure.

However, if the joint aspiration or injection is part of a more complex treatment, then you may be asked to stay at the center for as long as your physician deems appropriate.

You can expect the following from a procedure for hip joint aspirations and hip joint injections:

• You will be asked to remove clothing and wear a hospital gown.
• You will be positioned on the surgical table so that the doctor is easily able to access your hip joint.
• The skin over the joint will be sanitized with an antiseptic solution.
• In the case of joint aspirations, a local anesthetic will be administered before the aspiration. After the anesthetic has numbed the area, the surgeon will insert the syringe needle and remove the excess fluid. You may feel some discomfort when the needle is inserted.
• In the case of a joint injection, the injection is inserted into the joint through the skin, and the medicine will be injected inside.
• In both procedures, the doctor will remove the needle, wipe the area with an alcoholic swab, and apply a light dressing.
• In the case of a diagnostic procedure, the doctor will send the sample obtained from the joint aspiration to the lab.

 

Joint Aspirations and Injections in New Jersey 
Is the pain in your hip getting unbearable? Are you tired of eating ibuprofen all day long? Then come to Complete Medical Wellness Center in New Jersey to receive effective treatment for joint diseases and conditions.

At CMW, experienced orthopedic surgeons will perform a hip joint aspiration to determine the exact cause of your pain. They will administer hip joint injections to provide relief from the constant pain.

Schedule an online consultation with our orthopedic specialist and avail effective, reliable, and best orthopedic treatments in NJ.