Steroidal injections into joints (ie. hip, shoulder, wrist) are intra-articular injections. 

If you have a swollen or painful joint, symptoms can be relieved by injecting a steroid medication into the joint. Sometimes a local anesthetic (numbing medicine) in injected along with the steroid.

It varies between people; improvement usually starts within 1 to 2 days. If helpful, the injection usually lasts from a few weeks to several months.

This procedure can help anyone with moderate to sever joint pain. 

• Ankle Injection
• Elbow Injection
• Hip Injection
• Knee Injection
• Shoulder Injection

A medial branch nerve block is a procedure in which an anesthetic is injected near small medial nerves connected to a specific facet joint. Typically several levels of the spine are injected in one procedure.

The procedure is primarily diagnostic, meaning that if the patient has the appropriate duration of pain relief after the medial branch nerve block, then he or she may be a candidate for a subsequent procedure – called a medial branch radiofrequency neurotomy (or ablation) – for longer term pain relief.

We like it because it gives us an opportunity to identify a very clear indicator of the root of your pain. 

It has the potential of being the first step in alleviating patient’s facet joint pain. 

A kyphoplasty procedure uses x-ray guidance to place a needle through a small incision in the back and into the vertebral compression fracture. After the needle is accurately placed, a balloon is slowly inflated to help restore vertebral height and form a new cavity. Bone cement is then injected into the new cavity and quickly hardens.

It alleviates pain by strengthening and solidifying the damaged vertebra.

Most vertebral compression fractures heal on their own as the pain eventually goes away. In cases where a vertebral compression fracture has been verified via x-ray and significant pain persists for more than a couple weeks despite nonsurgical treatments, kyphoplasty may be considered.

• Pain worsens when weight is applied.
• Pain is not accompanied by tingling, numbness, or weakness. 
• Vertebra collapses between 30% and 70%. 
• Fracture is less than 3 months old. 

Other factors to consider before deciding on kyphoplasty also exist, such as whether the patient is healthy enough for surgery. For example, if the patient is of advanced age or has the compression fracture as a result of a bone infection, the surgery is unlikely to be well tolerated.