Pain is a deterrent to many patients when offered a therapeutic injection. There is some encouraging news on ways to make injections more comfortable.
A Cochrane review found that adjusting the pH, with bicarbonate, of a lidocaine injectate for local anesthesia, reduced the discomfort for patients without reducing analgesic effectiveness. The burning sensation produced by the acidic pH of lidocaine injectable is diminished by adjusting the pH upwards from the 3.5 -7.0 usually found in commercial preparations, to approximately 7.4.
For the past 3 years I have been buffering the 0.5% lidocaine I use in Muscle Tendon Injections I use in the treatment of back pain. As important is the pre-injection analgesia that we provide with intravenous ketamine. Most patients report that they experience no pain during their injections.
Norman Marcus Pain Institute, New York NY “Your New York City Pain Relief Doctor”
Tagged with: pain relief
Filed under: back pain posts • muscle pain posts • pain management
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