Hip Injections
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Overview
If your hip is painful and causing significant problems in your day-to-day life you may be suffering from arthritis. Surgeons at Victorian Bone and Joint regularly assess patients for hip conditions and can recommend hip surgery when required. Sometimes it can be difficult to know how many of your symptoms are coming from the arthritis, especially if you have back pain, knee pain or pain which is not typical for arthritis.
An injection of local anaesthesia and corticosteroid into the hip can help. Injections can aid in both diagnosing and treating hip pain. Dr Stevens can inject medications directly into the hip joint to help you with your symptoms.
Treatments
Non-operative management
Most people will try ways to help their painful hip ‘get by’. When physiotherapy, pain relief medications, weight loss and other alternative treatments are no longer working, specialist hip replacement surgeons may be able to help. It is normally advised that people try ways of dealing with their arthritis before contemplating injections or surgery. Although hip replacement surgery is often used to treat arthritis of the hip, there are other treatments that Dr Stevens can help you with including hip injections.
Surgical management
A procedure performed in theatre using an x-ray machine helps to locate the perfect area to place the corticosteroid. You will have sedation so that you feel comfortable during the injection.
Post-operative management
Discharge home
After your procedure you will stay in recovery until you can sit up and safely begin to move around. You may can move your hip, knee and ankle. When you are comfortable you can be discharged home with pain relief tablets. A dressing will be placed over the injection site.
Pain relief
After injection it is normal to have a small amount of pain or discomfort. You will be given pain relief tablets to take home with you when you leave the hospital. Take these over the next two or three days as you need. You might find that the hip feels good for the first 12-24 hours before the normal hip symptoms return. This is normal. The steroid will take up to a week to begin to work.
It is a good idea to keep moving even after your surgery, it helps your blood circulation and stops your body getting too weak. Avoid any strenuous activity for the first 2 weeks, but gentle movement and walking is advised.
Review
After 2 weeks you will have an appointment with Dr Stevens to have your injection site checked. Dr Stevens will then give you advice on exercises and physiotherapy.
Driving
You can drive the day after your injection if your hip feels strong enough.
Returning to work
This depends on the type of work you do. Most injections need 1-2 days off work.
When to contact us
If you have any of these problems, please call Dr Stevens or his rooms on 03 5752 5020
Fever
Heavy bleeding or ooze from the wound
Increased swelling and redness around the injection site
Pain in the calf muscles or difficulty breathing
