Needle Therapy for Minor Sports Injuries

An ultrasound-guided needle procedure is being used to treat elbow, knee, and rotator cuff injures resulting from patient participation in various sports.

The needle can be used to inject corticosteroids at the injury site to ease inflammation, to scrape the bone adjacent to a tendon to smooth it, to eliminate calcifications rubbing against a tendon, or to "rough up” the tissue around small tears in the tendon to promote healing. The procedure is performed with a local anesthetic. Ultrasound is used to guide the procedure, since it requires high-resolution imaging for the detection and diagnosis of abnormalities.

In a large-scale study on the new procedure, around 65% of the 306 patients studied reported improvement as a result of the procedure. They had suffered various sports-related injuries and had not responded to more conservative therapies such as medication, bracing, physical therapy, or rest. Two-thirds of the patients with elbow injuries resulting from playing tennis showed improvement and a reduction in pain following the procedure.

"No patients experienced infection or other complications from the procedure,” said Levon N. Nazarian, M.D., professor of radiology and ultrasound specialist at the Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, USA), who is leading the ongoing study. Dr. Nazarian performs the procedure with Dr. John McShane, clinical assistant professor of medicine and director of primary care sports medicine at the college. The study results were reported at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago (IL, USA).




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Jefferson Medical College