A corticosteroid (or ‘cortisone’) is an anti-inflammatory medicine, which can be used to treat a variety of musculoskeletal conditions. They can be injected directly into the tissues that are causing your symptoms. In CMATS we generally do injections into joints, bursae and tendon sheaths. It acts directly in the area injected and is not the same as the steroids taken by bodybuilders or athletes.
The injection can help to relieve swelling, pain and stiffness caused by inflammation. This may in turn help you to start your rehabilitation and return to normal activities sooner by ‘breaking the cycle’ of pain and inflammation. It can also be helpful to aid in the diagnosis of your condition if it is not clear what is responsible for your pain.
The injections can take a few weeks to start working, some start working within a few hours.
The effects of injection may wear off in a few months, but, if combined with the right rehabilitation there can be longer lasting effects in some conditions.
The possible side effects of the injection are rare and can include:
Most people can have corticosteroid injections, although we may need to take certain precautions in some situations, for example, if you are on anticoagulant medication ( blood thinners), have diabetes or high blood pressure.
You should not have the injection carried out if you:
There is a theoretical risk of a steroid injection making a patient more susceptible to contracting Covid19; having it for longer; and experiencing increased complications. Theoretical means that this could be possible but hasn’t been scientifically proven. Because of this our injection clinics are not running at present and when we restart we may have extra precautions in place.
Further information with regards to Covid-19 and corticosteroids can be found on the versus arthritis website. Please follow this link https://www.versusarthritis.org/covid-19-updates/covid-19-advice-for-people-taking-steroids/
https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/hydrocortisone-injections/
https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/treatments/drugs/steroid-injections/