CORTISONE INJECTION TREATMENT BIRMINGHAM

CORTISONE (STEROID) INJECTION
CORTICOSTEROID PAIN RELIEF INJECTION TREATMENT

ULTRASOUND-GUIDED CORTISONE INJECTION TREATMENT (CORTICOSTEROID)

WHAT IS A CORTISONE INJECTION?

Here at the Dynamic Clinic, we are offering musculoskeletal cortisone injections at our Birmingham and Warwickshire clinics to assist with pain and injury. Steroids act to reduce inflammation direct at a site of an injury. They can be given in the form of tablets i.e. Ibuprofen but can also be given in the form of an injection, which is a much more effective form of treatment as it is administered directly to the source. A steroid injection can be injected into or around an inflamed injured joint to reduce pain and aid recovery. Steroid injections can work fast or can be delayed but generally speaking these forms of injections work best in the short term.

Local steroid injections can be a rapid and effective treatment for joint pain and inflammation, although the improvement is just temporary in most cases. Man-made steroids act like natural steroids to reduce inflammation. These should not be mistaken for steroids that bodybuilders would take in increased size.

Injected steroids are often recommended for people with rheumatoid arthritis and other types of inflammatory arthritis. They may also be recommended for osteoarthritis if the joint area is very painful.

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WHAT DO STEROID (CORTSIONE) INJECTIONS TREAT?

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Steroid injections are generally used to treat inflammatory conditions like arthritis but can also be used for other painful joint conditions like gout. Due to the anti-inflammatory properties of steroid injections, they are often used also in the treatment of chronic muscle tears, chronic tendon injuries, and also chronic ligamentous issues, all of which have not responded prior to conservative management.

Steroid injections are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions

Most injections are quick and easy to perform and can be given with or without ultrasound guidance. Often you will be given a steroid with a local anesthetic to reduce the discomfort of the injection. This can numb your pain very fast but does wear off within half an hour. You may also have some numbness from the anaesthetic which may last up to 24hrs.

IS A CORTISONE INJECTION RIGHT FOR ME?

It is always a good idea to consult a musculoskeletal professional to provide an assessment to see if a cortisone injection is the right course of action.

The administration of the injection is a very simple procedure, after which you will rest for a short period and avoid strenuous exercise for the first couple of days. Here at Dynamic Regenerative Medicine, our injections are given as part of a complete treatment package as the steroid injection will often reduce pain but do not resolve the underlying problem. You will, therefore, be given follow-up treatments to take full advantage of rehabilitation, strengthening and restoring the best mobility. You may want to arrange transport home after the injection, because of the numbness.

FOLLOWING YOUR CORTISONE INJECTION TREATMENT

If you have an injection into a joint you should rest it, or at least avoid strenuous exercise, for the first 1-2 days. However, it is also important not to rest for too long. Following the injection, you should undergo a course of treatment rehabilitation to optimise healing and recovery.

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF CORTISONE INJECTIONS

Most people have injections without any side effects. Side effects are often weak and short-lived but can include a temporary flare-up of joint pain, infection in rare cases, thinning of the skin or facial flushing. Occasionally people can notice a joint flare-up within the first 24 hours after injection. This usually settles by itself after a few days. Paracetamol can help with this. These will be discussed with you fully before the injection is consented to.

Steroids can occasionally cause some thinking of the skin, particularly with stronger mixes.

Signs of infection: If your joint becomes more painful and hot you should see your GP immediately especially if you are feeling unwell, or head to A&E.

People are often concerned about possible side effects such as weight gain. One of the advantages of having an injection compared to tablets is that the dose can be kept low. That means that these side effects are very rare.

Steroid injections are commonly used in conjunction with an appropriate rehabilitation program to help treat:

Pre-Treatment Information

Inflammatory joint and soft tissue pain
Reduced mobility/stiffness within a joint
Gout
Bursitis of peripheral joints i.e. knee/shoulder/elbow
Temporary changes in women periods and changes in mood

Can I take other medications with local steroid injections?

You can take other medicines with local steroid injections. However, if you are taking a drug that thins the blood (an anticoagulant) such as warfarin, you may need an extra blood test to make sure your blood is not too thin to have the injection. This is because it can increase the risk of bleeding into the joint. You should mention that you are taking anticoagulants so it is made clearly aware. If you discuss this beforehand, you may be advised to adjust your warfarin dose before having the steroid injection.

Fertility, pregnancy and breastfeeding

Current guidelines state that steroids are not harmful in pregnancy or breastfeeding so single steroid injections should not affect fertility, pregnancy or breastfeeding. If however, you are pregnant or breastfeeding you should discuss it with your doctor before having the injection.

Here at Dynamic Regenerative Medicine, we will choose the most appropriate method of treatment for your condition and symptoms. Most injections are quick and easy to perform.

CONDITIONS THAT MAY BENEFIT FROM A CORTISONE INJECTION

Cortisone injections are considered safe and effective for many musculoskeletal conditions. Examples are chronic joint pain injuries and osteoarthritis, where the active medication (steroid) is used to reduce inflammation/pain. It is also very recently used for many soft tissue injuries like ligament and tendon sprains/strains that have failed other conservative treatments. Conditions include:

Shoulder pain - rotator cuff inflammation, arthritis or bursitis
Elbow pain - tennis and golfer’s elbow or bursitis
Wrist pain - tendinitis, ligamentous injury or carpel tunnel syndrome
Hand and thumb pain, including arthritis
Hip pain - osteoarthritis, tendinitis or bursitis
Knee pain - injury, osteoarthritis, tendinitis, ligament injury, cartilage damage and more
Foot and ankle pain or injury, including, Achilles tendinitis, plantar fasciitis & big toe
Spinal pain and injury

Please note that is it very important to appreciate that success rates, although very good, are often down to many factors - like severity, lifestyle habits and occupation. In certain cases where the severity to too far advanced, surgical option may be required. It is also very important to understand that cortisone injections are not a long term solution for progressive chronic conditions and repeated injections can be counterproductive in some cases. Therefore, it a is very important to discuss this with a musculoskeletal professional, to explore all options. Below is some information on PRP injection treatment for example.

Efficient Mechanisms of PRP Treatment for Musculoskeletal Disease & Damage

What is the most effective injection treatment?

What is the evidence for PRP?

Regenerative Treatment for Pain & Injuries

PRP & Hyaluronic Acid Injection

Fees

FREE CONSULTATION

Important information

Here at Dynamic Regenerative Medicine, we like to focus our treatments on REPAIR and REGENERATION. Due to the toxicity of steroids, we like to be more in favour of natural treatments that focus on tissue repair platelet rich plasma (PRP) for example. We also like to educate our patients about this and its differences. With this in mind, we like to offer often recommend an alternative effective treatment, which is steroid (cortisone) injection with the added addition of hyaluronic acid to aid tissue repair. This can be found under Cingal pain relief injection treatment.

It is the patient's responsibility to make sure they fully understand and appreciate any associated side effects, prior to undergoing treatment.

Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Injection

If the patient is concerned about the side effects then we do offer a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory injection, which is a good natural alternative to steroids, without the unwanted side effects - TRAUMEEL, this is particularly of common use for athletes and practice in sports medicine.

How effective is cortisone and HA combined?

Pre-Treatment Information

WHAT DOES A CONSULTATION INVOLVE?

During your consultation with us, this gives us the opportunity to discuss your arising complaint/condition and then to discuss possible treatment options and expectations. Below is a simple consultation flow:

discuss your condition
what treatment you have had so far
clinical assessment (where applicable) - having a look at the area and examining
ultrasound scanning (where applicable)
diagnosis
treatment (injection or otherwise)
refer for further investigations if necessary

Please note that treatment can indeed be included in the consultation if happy to do so and enough time has been set aside to do so.

WHY CHOOSE DYNAMIC?

In the area of musculoskeletal practice, we are incredibly proud to say we are one of the UK’s leading providers of popular regenerative treatments like hyaluronic acid injections and advanced PRP treatment, along with musculoskeletal pain injections, and have been providing these fantastic treatments with ongoing success for over 10 years, providing many 1000's of treatments. This is manly due to our reputation and being centrally based within the UK. We are extremely proud of the huge help and support this has provided to so many people.

Our Clinic Director and Clinical Scientist Mr Adam Whatley is very passionate on cartilage research and is continuing with ongoing clinical research in this exciting area, and to offer the best level of clinical practice to all patients. Mr Adam Whatley is a very experienced musculoskeletal clinical fully registered with extensive training in physiotherapy, osteopathy and musculoskeletal medicine. Cortisone injections have been ongoingly praised for being very effective for pain relief. Risks and adverse complications associated with musculoskeletal injections are very minimal.