Review of injection therapy clinics performed by physiotherapists working in primary care

Abstract

Objectives

To determine pain scores for injection therapy and to review the overall change in outcomes post-injection for a variety of musculoskeletal injections compared with the previous audits of a primary-care physiotherapy injection clinic.

Methods

Subjects were assessed using a numerical rating scale between 0 and 10 before and 4 weeks post-injection.

Results

All average pain scale scores were reduced 4 weeks after injection for all conditions. There is an overall average reduction in pain on provoking activity of 45.7%. Trigger finger/thumb (65%) demonstrated the most significant reduction in pain. Contrary to a common patient perception, injection therapy is not an exceptionally painful experience, with an average score of 3.2.

Discussion

Results are comparable with previous scores for injections carried out within the same primary-care physiotherapy clinic.

Keywords:

• Injection
• Steroid
• Local anaesthetic
• Physiotherapy
• Pain scale