The true ‘value’ of injection therapy
Okay – so we’ve looked at the boring bits about why the treatment costs more in our companion blog ‘Why is injection treatment more expensive’ but have you ever thought about the true value of injection therapy?
It’s often the best choice
There’s nothing like stating the obvious but sometimes it’s the one treatment that you really need. It can be like needing a filling but choosing to avoid the dentist! There are quite a few conditions that respond really well to injection treatment like osteoarthritis (affecting the knee, hip, ankle, thumb and shoulder), SAPS, tenosynovitis, GTPS, trigger finger and carpal tunnel syndrome to name a few. In some cases injection treatment is the clear favourite in terms of reduction in pain and improvement in day to day function.
Quick response
No one likes to be in pain and injection therapy often alleviates pain quickly. That doesn’t mean it’s the end of the problem but it can save you weeks of unrelenting pain. Once the pain is under control there’s a chance of improving strength and your day to day activities. We often use the pain relief gained from an injection to accelerate our patient’s rehabilitation which is a massive boost and enables people to really feel like they’re making progress.
Improving your quality of life
A while back there was a study comparing a group of people who had injection treatment for tennis elbow with a group who had no treatment at all. The study concluded that in the longer term (after 1 year) the outcome was the same. In other words, in the longer term (>1year) it doesn’t make a scrap of difference whether you have an injection or not. That all sounds straight-forward doesn’t it? The problem with this (and you’ll know this if you’ve ever had tennis elbow) is that Tennis elbow is very painful and disabling and it often lasts the best part of a year! The researchers completely failed to measure the benefit to the patient for the duration of the condition! It can make a massive difference to your quality of life for a significant amount of time.
Longer lasting than you think
“How long will I benefit from this injection?” That’s the million dollar question we get asked all the time. Well the truth is – it varies quite a bit depending on the condition we are injecting, the demand on the area after the injection etc. There’s also differences in what is being injected. Cortisone can be quite short-lived although if it is able to curtail the inflammation causing the pain, its effects can last for months. HA has less dramatic effects early on but often provides months, if not years of relief for the patient.
Being in pain costs too
This is a calculation few of us do when we’re in pain but time off work, reduced productivity, paying for extra help and pharmacy bills all adds up and probably hinders your path to effective treatment. There’s also the loss of activities you love to do which can make being in pain pretty miserable. We’ve all done it but there is a cost to being in pain – and it’s not just financial!
Saved from fruitless treatment
The number of times a patient has arrived with a long history of all the treatments they’ve tried up to that point. Endless visits to their GP, X-rays, chiropractors, osteopaths and physios – all getting nowhere fast. Our success is built on trust with our patients. We don’t offer treatment we know isn’t going to help so if you’ve been offered an injection, we’re expecting it to help and start the journey back to recovery.
