Steroid injections

Dos of steroid injections:

• Do disinfect everything for your steroid injections. Sanitize the injection sites and vials with alcohol swab. Never allow the syringe to touch anything that might cause contamination.
• Do check for expiry dates on your gear.
• Do rotate injection sites to prevent the occurrence of injection fibrosis.
• Do check with a health professional if you experience profuse bleeding during steroid injections. It is okay to experience some bleeding during steroid injections; however, if the bleeding is profuse and/or frequent, it is likely that you are doing your steroid injections incorrectly or you have a health problem that needs to be addressed.

Don’ts of steroid injections:

• Don’t use needle more than once during steroid injections, especially if the needle has been used by other people. This is to avoid the spread of diseases. A used needle may also be clogged or blunt that can cause painful injection.
• Don’t rush your steroid injections.
• Don’t use just any needle for your steroid injections. If you are injecting the gluteal muscles, the recommended needle size is a 22"-gauge needle. If injecting the deltoid and thigh areas, it should be 23" with 1" in length.