A paper presented at the 19th annual American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons meeting in Dallas Texas, November 2009, outlined the use of an injection of an anesthetic agent into the hip joint to help differentiate the source of pain be it from the hip or referred pain from the back. Findings from this study suggest that relief of pain symptoms following injection of local anesthetic into the hip joint is a very positive indicator of hip arthritis in patients who have potentially two sources of pain. This technique can be utilized to differentiate a hip source versus a spinal source of pain in the region of the hip. This technique is performed as an outpatient under fluoroscopic (X-ray guidance) and takes approximately 5 minutes to perform and carries with it relatively low risk.
