Intra-articular injection for pain relief in patients awaiting hip replacement

A double blind randomised trial was carried out to ascertain whether intra-articular injections of saline, bupivacaine or bupivacaine plus triamcinolone would be of value in the relief of hip pain suffered by patients awaiting total hip replacement for osteoarthritis. The majority of patients had good pain relief for 1 month but in general this was not maintained and some patients were much worse after the injection.