Joint pain treatment (joint injections) at Spire Little Aston Hospital

At Spire Little Aston Hospital, we provide comprehensive treatment and care from our comfortable private hospital in Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham city centre. We offer a choice of expert rheumatologists, orthopaedic consultants and anaesthetists who perform joint injections and are committed to healthcare excellence.

You can expect to receive treatment without the wait and high-quality aftercare that’s personalised to you. Our facilities are clean and modern with all the comfort and convenience you’d expect at home.

Finding us

You can find us just to the north of Sutton Coldfield. We're a short 25 minute drive from Birmingham city centre. Birmingham New Street is the nearest mainline station to Spire Little Aston Hospital. We have free parking on-site for you and your visitors.

What to expect during your consultation

On the day of your consultation, you’ll meet one of our healthcare professionals in one of our accessible consultation rooms so there’s no need to be concerned if your joint pain restricts your mobility.

At your consultation, we may:

• Ask about your medical history
• Check your blood pressure and blood sugar to make sure the hydrocortisone injection is suitable for you
• Explain about the procedure, anaesthetic and any potential risks and complications and how they may affect you
• Give you a chance to ask any questions you have about your treatment

We may also recommend further tests and scans, such as an X-ray, an MRI or a CT scan, so we can examine your joint in more detail.

Joint injections can help reduce knee pain, shoulder pain and hip pain, and particularly pain due to osteoarthritis.

When you come in to Spire Little Aston Hospital for your joint injection, you’ll:

• Meet your healthcare team
• Be given a sedative to help you relax (if agreed upon with your consultant beforehand)
• Have your joint felt and flexed, and possibly have excess fluid removed with a needle if necessary
• Have a thin needle injected into your joint containing the steroid and sometimes an anaesthetic to numb the area

Sometimes, your consultant will use an X-ray machine positioned over your joint to guide the injection. They may also perform more than one joint injection, if necessary.

In some cases, our consultants use special platelet-rich plasma injections. The plasma is taken from your own blood, and when injected into your joint, it promotes cartilage repair and relieves pain and stiffness due to osteoarthritis.

After your procedure, you’ll go to a recovery room for half an hour before going home. Your healthcare team will provide you with any advice and information on how to manage any pain due to the injection.

The first few days

Following your joint procedure, you’ll need someone to then stay with you for the first 24 hours. It can take up to 48 hours for the steroid to take effect, so you should rest your joint for the first few days. Your consultant will inform you about over-the-counter painkillers to relieve any existing pain or discomfort. After the 48-hour period you should keep your joint active and do the exercises provided by our physiotherapists.

Although everybody’s different and you should always follow your consultant’s advice, here’s a typical recovery timeline for joint injections: