A joint aspiration is a procedure where a trained professional - usually your rheumatologist or a radiologist (if ultrasound is needed) guides a needle attached to a syringe into your joint and pulls out excess fluid that's built up due to inflammation.
This procedure is done for two reasons. One to give the patient relief from hot, swollen joints that are unable to bend and are affecting ones daily life. And two to then send off the fluid to check for infection or to help with the diagnosis of a particular arthritis. The fluid that comes out of the joint is synovial fluid that surrounds the joint which builds in excess due to an inflammatory response in people with autoimmune types of arthritis, Lyme disease or injury to a particular joint. Depending on which joint they are taking the fluid you may or may not receive local anaesthetic into the joint before hand. I recently had this procedure performed to both of my knees are I was struggling with an acute flare up post undergoing a double hip replacement surgery. My rehab process was feeling at a halt so my specialist felt this was the best way to get out the extra fluid and then inject some steroids so that I can move on with my recovery and have relief from the pain I was experiencing.
The knees are pretty straight forward to do and the relief has been amazing. I can one again see my knee caps and walk with much less pain. Steroid injections can take anywhere form 48-72 hours to fully work and sometimes even a few days.
TIPS for getting a joint aspiration:
Ask someone to drive you and go with you. Support is always much nicer. If you can't get a support person I recommend getting a taxi as you will be a little tender afterwards.
Rest for the first 48 hours allowing your joint to recover from the procedure and for the medicine to work. After this you can go back to your daily activities and slowly build back up so you can get living life and enjoying movement once more.
Take something to squeeze in your hand or squeeze your support persons hand. Always helps.
Take some pain killers or use ice packs if the area is tender after.
Have you undergone a joint aspiration before? What was your experience? Did you find it helped?
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