Cortisone Injection

What is Cortisone?

Cor­ti­sone is the strongest anti-inflam­ma­to­ry agent avail­able, it is used to decrease pain and reduce local­ized swelling. A cor­ti­sone injec­tion is sim­i­lar to tak­ing an anti-inflam­ma­to­ry by mouth (Advil or aspirin) and inject­ing it local­ly through a nee­dle direct­ly into a joint.

What to Expect?
It may take up to one month for you to see a pos­i­tive effect from cortisone.

If you expe­ri­ence any dis­com­fort fol­low­ing the injec­tions, apply ice to the area. Put the ice over the area where you are feel­ing dis­com­fort for 10 min­utes every hour as need­ed for pain. tak­ing care to pro­tect your skin from freez­ing. You may con­tin­ue to use ice for two-three days, if necessary.

Lido­caine or Mar­caine are anes­thet­ics or ​“numb­ing med­ica­tions” (like Novo­caine) which could be used in your injection.

One out of three peo­ple may expe­ri­ence an increase in pain after the numb­ness wears off, this is known as injec­tion flare. Injec­tion flare reac­tions should sub­side with­in 48 hours.

Some peo­ple may notice thin­ning of the skin and/​or decrease in skin col­oration at the site of the injection.

Patients who are dia­bet­ic should mon­i­tor their blood glu­cose as cor­ti­sone may increase blood glu­cose lev­el. Check with the doc­tor who treats your dia­betes if this occurs.

Relief from any injec­tion may be tem­po­rary or permanent.

Tylenol or ibupro­fen may be tak­en for pain relief of injec­tion flare as direct­ed by your doc­tor unless you are aller­gic to these over-the-counter medications.