Joint pain treatment (joint injections) at Spire London East Hospital

Spire London East Hospital is a well-established private hospital delivering comprehensive treatment and care to our patients in east and central London and Essex. We offer a choice of expert rheumatologists, orthopaedic consultants and radiologists who perform joint injections and are committed to healthcare excellence.

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

Finding us

We're located just a couple of miles from the M11 and only 20 minutes on the Central line tube to the city of London via Redbridge station. We have free on-site parking available 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 22 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.

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

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 injection, you’ll be taken to a recovery room to relax until your consultant is happy for you to go home. This is usually after about half an hour.

It’s normal to feel some discomfort from the injection itself and to have some bruising for a few days afterwards. If you had a local anaesthetic, you may not feel much pain but the effects will wear off in a couple of hours.

Some people notice an improvement in their chronic pain after just a few hours but it can take several days for the injection to become fully effective. You can expect the effects to last for a few weeks up to a year, depending on the type and strength of injection you have.

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