How effective are joint injections for hip arthritis?

Typically patients that are trying to get some relief in their symptoms from their hip arthritis will try joint injections in their hip.  For us as physicians these joint injections are helpful for two reasons.  One, they can be diagnostic and letting us know whether or not most of the symptoms are coming from the hip joint itself. And they can potentially treat your hip pain for six months or more.  These joint injections are done under either X-ray or ultrasound guidance, and inject both numbing medicine as well as steroids into the hip joint.  The helpful part about the numbing medicine is that it will give you immediate relief in your symptoms and is a good surrogate for knowing what percentage of your symptoms are coming from your hip arthritis.