Diagnostic and Therapeutic Significance of Ultrasound-Guided Hip Injections

Hip pain can be difficult to pinpoint, for diagnosis, as the discomfort can derive from several locations and compensatory pain patterns. Patients can experience discomfort in the intra- and extra-articular hip structures, the lumbar spine, the pelvic floor, or a combination of these locations. As a result, injections into and around the hip have grown to be an important asset for both diagnostic and nonsurgical treatment algorithm for hip pain. Ultrasonography-guided injections are an ideal procedure for diagnostic and nonsurgical treatment of hip pain because of the deep location of the injection site, proximity to neurovascular structures, and lack of tangible anatomic landmarks.

Columbia Orthopedics sports medicine specialists T. Sean Lynch, MD; Thomas S. Bottiglieri, DO; and Natasha N. Desai, MD highlighted the diagnostic and therapeutic significance of ultrasonography-guided hip injections for an orthopedic practice in their study titled, “Ultrasound-Guided Hip Injections.” The study focuses on sonographic anatomy, introduction to technique, common indications, as well as pearls and pitfalls of ultrasonography-guided hip injections.

Ultrasonography-guided hip injections are an interventional procedure that uses a steroid injection, via an ultrasound to guide the needle, to reduce musculo-skeletal pain in the hip. This procedure has transformed the way providers evaluate and treat injuries and chronic pain. Ultrasonography-guided hip injections can aid in-office diagnosis, improve efficacy of therapeutic injections, guide patient selection for surgery, and aid in pain control. The procedure is a safe, effective way to pinpoint common hip pathologies in an orthopedic clinical practice.

The study was published in the Journal of American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS). Read more about the diagnostic and therapeutic significance of ultrasound-guided hip injections  here.