Therapeutic Joint Injections

Helping to ease joint pain on the Connectictut Shoreline.

A Therapeutic Joint Injection involves injecting a steroid medication into a joint in order to reduce inflammation and alleviate pain.

How to Prepare

Your physician will review some important medication changes which you will need to make prior to having your injection.

What to Expect

The technologist will obtain a patient history. You will be asked to lay on your back and the radiologist will sterilize the area around the site to be injected.

The radiologist will numb the area with a local anesthetic. Fluoroscopy, a type of xray, will be used to direct a small needle into the joint. A small mixture of anesthetic and cortisone is then slowly injected into the joint. Here at Guilford Radiology, our radiologists are specialists in this procedure, and use the smallest needles available.  Most of our patients experience very little pain, if any at all from the procedure.  The cortisone takes a few days to take effect (by decreasing the inflammation), but the local anesthetic which is also injected into the joint reduces the pain for the first few days, until the cortisone takes effect.The injection itself only takes a few minutes, but the overall procedure takes about 30 minutes.

You may return to your normal diet and exercise routine after this procedure.  You may also resume your medications.  You may feel some discomfort, and should not perform any heavy lifting or rigorous activity for 24 hours.

Your Results

We will provide you with a CD copy of your exam, for your personal records or to bring to your referring physician on your follow-up visit.  Our goal is to provide you with the highest level of customer service and image quality in a caring and supportive environment.

Questions?

If you have any questions or concerns about your procedure, feel free to call us at 203-453-5123 or ­contact us online.