Joint Injections

Joint injections play an essential role in easing pain and keeping your body moving. They deliver medication directly to the tissues causing your symptoms. The physicians at the Rheumatic Disease Center in Milwaukee and Glendale, Wisconsin, have years of experience performing safe, effective joint injections for various conditions. Call the nearest office today or request an appointment online to learn if a joint injection can help ease your pain.

When would I need a joint injection?

Joint injections can target any joint in your body, delivering medication that relieves joint pain, reduces inflammation, and improves movement. 

Your Rheumatic Disease Center provider could recommend a joint injection for many conditions causing joint pain, including:

• Osteoarthritis
• Post-traumatic arthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Psoriatic arthritis
• Tendinitis
• Bursitis
• Gout

Joint pain caused by inflammation from any source might improve with an injection.

What type of joint injection will I receive?

Joint injections, also called intra-articular injections, contain medication like:

Corticosteroids

Corticosteroids are a potent anti-inflammatory medication and often one of the earliest treatments for easing joint pain. It takes up to a week for a corticosteroid to reduce your inflammation. Though each person has a different response, your results could last a few weeks to months or possibly longer, depending on what’s causing your inflammation.

Local anesthetic

Sometimes a corticosteroid injection also contains a local anesthetic to provide immediate (but short-lived) pain relief. Your provider might also inject a local anesthetic into certain joints to verify they are the source of your pain.

Hyaluronic acid (viscosupplementation)

Hyaluronic acid injections are used for people with arthritis. Your joints naturally produce hyaluronic acid, a thick fluid that lubricates the joint and supports smooth movement. Levels of this critical fluid diminish in arthritic joints.

Hyaluronic acid injections ease pain, improve mobility, and could slow progressive joint damage. Though it takes time to feel the results, your joints could feel better for several months.

What happens during a joint injection?

You might need a joint aspiration before receiving an injection. A joint aspiration — removing fluids inside the joint — serves two purposes.

If you have a build-up of fluids in the joint, an aspiration creates room for your therapeutic injection. Your Rheumatic Disease Center provider might also aspirate fluids from the joint to look at them under a microscope and diagnose a joint condition.

Before your injection or aspiration, your provider places a local anesthetic on the site. They use ultrasound imaging or fluoroscopy (real-time X-ray imaging) to view the joint, guide the needle, and inject your treatment.

Call the Rheumatic Disease Center today or use the online booking feature to learn more about joint injections or schedule a procedure.