Joint pain treatment (joint injections) at Spire Nottingham Hospital

At Spire Nottingham Hospital, our orthopaedic consultants, spine specialists and pain consultants perform joint injections to help relieve chronic pain and stiffness.

We offer fast access to diagnostic tests and scans, so you don’t have to wait long to find out if treatment is right for you.

Getting here

Spire Nottingham Hospital is situated five miles south from Nottingham city centre off the A52. Nottingham station is approximately 15 minutes by taxi from the hospital. We have 300 free car parking spaces for you and your visitors.

Your consultations

All your consultations will take place in one of our 20 accessible consultation rooms, so don’t worry if you have joint pain when walking. During your consultations, we'll:

• Ask about your medical history
• Say whether you need blood tests, an X-ray and/or an MRI or CT scan so they can examine your joint in more detail
• 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 about your treatment

Joint injections can be used to help knee pain, shoulder pain and hip pain, and in particular, pain associated with osteoarthritis.

Once you and your consultant have decided to go ahead with joint injections, they’ll outline your treatment and ongoing support plan.

Here’s what will happen on the day of your joint injection:

• You’ll meet your healthcare team
• If agreed with your consultant beforehand, you’ll be given a sedative so you feel calm
• Your consultant will feel and flex your joint and may draw out fluid with a needle if necessary
• Your consultant will insert a thin needle into your joint to inject the steroid, which may be mixed with a local anaesthetic to numb the area
• Your consultant may use an X-ray machine positioned over your joint as a guide for the injection
• They may make more than one injection, if appropriate

Occasionally, 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.

When your consultant has finished, you’ll be able to relax in a private room until you’re ready to go home - usually for about half an hour or so. Before you leave, your healthcare team will give you advice on managing your pain and any exercises you can do to help improve your results.

You may have some discomfort from the injection – if you had a local anaesthetic, you may feel this after a couple of hours. However, the joint injection should improve your chronic pain in a few hours to a few days. Usually, the effects should last for a few weeks to a few months, depending on the type and strength of your injection.

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