Infections After Large Joint or Bursa Injection: A Survey of 554 Sports Medicine Physicians

Despite the ubiquity of intra-articular and bursal injections for the treatment of joint pain and bursitis, relatively little literature is available on the prevalence of infection after these procedures. The aim of this study was to identify the number of infections recalled by sports medicine physicians who perform injections of large joints and bursae at least once per month.

A survey of physician members of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine identified the reported number of recalled infections for each large joint/bursal location.

Of a total of 554 physicians, only 31 infections were recalled by 27 physicians. Only 4.87% of all physicians were aware of an infection after an injection during their career. On average, one infection was recalled of 170 physician-years in practice. No differences in infection rates were observed when comparing primary specialties (P = 0.281).

This study, the largest to date, demonstrates that sports medicine physicians rarely encounter infections after large joint and bursa injections. Though rare, because of their catastrophic nature, risk mitigation strategies should be maintained.