Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Steroid injection question

I have arthritis all thru my body. About every major joint,hands ,neck and up and down the spine, and plantar faciitus in my feet. Two spinal surgeries, one replaced shoulder and many steroid injections, plus chemical and electric de-nervation of nerves in my lower back.I have come to the conclusion that these damn doctors only guess at what they think will work.They will do a ct scan and MRI and only look at one thing.

As stated the steroid injections to arthritic joints only last about three weeks and it needs to be right in the area of inflammation. It does travel thru out the body, but with limited help.

Since elk season my right knee has been swollen ans sore.Steroid injection between ML season and rifle season but it wore off in three weeks

To get thru it I have been using Sombra Cool Therapy cream mixed with CBD oil twice a day

Vince, have you tried Voltaren gel? Works pretty good, the generic is called diclofenac. I used a lot of it on my ankle and have a metric ton left over.

I have arthritis all thru my body. About every major joint,hands ,neck and up and down the spine, and plantar faciitus in my feet. Two spinal surgeries, one replaced shoulder and many steroid injections, plus chemical and electric de-nervation of nerves in my lower back.I have come to the conclusion that these damn doctors only guess at what they think will work.They will do a ct scan and MRI and only look at one thing.

As stated the steroid injections to arthritic joints only last about three weeks and it needs to be right in the area of inflammation. It does travel thru out the body, but with limited help.

Since elk season my right knee has been swollen ans sore.Steroid injection between ML season and rifle season but it wore off in three weeks

To get thru it I have been using Sombra Cool Therapy cream mixed with CBD oil twice a day

Anyway I wonder if this is standard practice for doctors to not care so much about injecting the exact worst area of pain. Does the steroid truly migrate adequately throughout the entire muscle so that it does not matter?

I do not know everything so I am looking for some input from hopefully an expert- Medical Doctor well versed in giving steroid injections.

I have had pain in my left shoulder area for about 12 years after a slip and fall on ice in which I landed on my back. I braced the fall some with my left elbow which jammed my shoulder somewhat.

I have also had pain in my right hip/rump area for 19 years. I do not recall any specific injury but I was doing a lot of scouting and bear hunting in the mountains that spring. I am 55 years old now.

I had surgery on my left shoulder late June of this year. The MRI before the surgery revealed a torn rotator cuff, damaged biceps tendon and arthritis in my collar bone area so the surgeon fixed those 3 things. The area of pain that sent me to seek help had no obvious surgical fix, no damage in that area was indicated by the MRI.

I have had a lot of physical therapy this year for the shoulder and hip area and none of that has seemed to help the unresolved pain in those areas but it has of course helped me to recover from the shoulder surgery.

So 6 months after the surgery I was still having pain in that same area (basically where the Teres Minor muscle attaches to the humerus). Maybe a bit higher where the Infraspinatus attaches? I met with the surgeon and he suggested a steroid injection into that area as well as in my Piriformis. I told him that it has been a bit difficult to get the therapists to find the sore areas as they are kind of deep and that it requires digging in their with a thumb or elbow to really find the sweet spot. He said that I should share that with the other doctor in their practice who would be doing the injections at a later date.

So I went to get the shoulder injection and just before the doctor injected me he was pushing on my shoulder area to identify the location of the Teres Minor and I told him that I was not sure that he was actually on the really painful spot yet. He said that he did not care where I hurt most, he was just going to inject the spot that the shoulder surgeon told him to. What could I do but hope for the best? Hope that they both knew what they were doing? Well it did seem to help for about a week but the pain is coming back in that same area. I can't help but wonder if he had taken the time to inject the sweet spot it might have been more effective.

A week later (Monday of this week) the same doctor (not the shoulder surgeon but the injection doctor) injected my right Piriformis muscle. Again as he was starting I mentioned that he was setting up to inject an area that was removed from the most painful area and asked if the steroid would migrate through the whole muscle. He said yes. Still I can't help but wonder if it would be more effective to inject the sweet spot. The injection sight is 3" removed from the worst spot. So it is closer to the crack of my butt than where the muscle attaches to the leg bone.

I think the pain in my rump is less but it still hurts. Maybe it will improve? Anyway I wonder if this is standard practice for doctors to not care so much about injecting the exact worst area of pain. Does the steroid truly migrate adequately throughout the entire muscle so that it does not matter?

I have tried some dry needling in the shoulder and rump area this year as well as the physical therapy and that did not seem to help.

I am really frustrated. My sleep is negatively affected. I have had 75 therapy visits this year between my shoulder, hip/rump and thumb surgery repairs and still hurt in all areas. God help me!!!

I can't help but wonder if he had taken the time to inject the sweet spot it might have been more effective.