Atlanto-Occipital Joint Injection
What is the atlanto-occipital (AO) joint?
It is a joint between the skull (also called the occiput) to the first cervical (neck) vertebra (also called the atlas). Half of the total neck forward bending (flexion) and backward bending (extension) comes from the AO joint.
What is AO joint pain?
You may feel pain if your atlanto-occipital joint is injured. Sometimes it feels like muscle tension. But at other times the pain may be severe. Sometimes cartilage inside the joint is injured. Other times it is the connecting ligaments surrounding the joint that are injured. AO pain can occur in your upper neck or it can cause headaches.
How do I know if I have AO pain?
If you have chronic upper neck pain or headaches you may have AO pain. Common tests such as x-rays or MRIs may not always show if this joint is causing pain. An AO injection may be needed to determine this.
What is an AO injection?
An atlanto-occipital (AO) joint injection is an outpatient procedure. Local anesthetic (numbing medicine) and an anti-inflammatory medicine are injected into the joint. The local anesthetic helps to temporarily numb the pain, and the anti-inflammatory helps reduce inflammation. This injection can be used to diagnose or treat your pain. If it temporarily lessens your pain, and if it helps you move better, it conforms to us that it is the source of pain.
What happens during an injection?
At Atlas Pain Care, Coimbatore, we perform this procedure under x-ray guidance to ensure the safe and proper position of the needle. Initially a local anaesthetic will be used to numb your skin followed by insertion of a thin needle directly into the atlanto-occipital joint and a dye may also be injected to make sure the needle is at the correct spot. When the doctor is sure the needle is at the correct place, the medicines will be injected.
What happens after an AO injection?
You will be monitored for up to 30 minutes after the injection. You may feel immediate pain relief and numbness in your upper neck for a period of time after the injection. This may indicate the medication has reached the right spot. Your pain may return after this short pain-free period, or may even be a little worse for a day or two. It may be caused by needle irritation or by the medicine itself. The medicines usually take two or three days to start working, but can take as long as a week. You can usually return to work the day after the injection, but always check with your doctor. Please read our FAQ section to know more about the do's and dont's prior to and after the procedure.
How long can I expect pain relief?
The extent and duration of pain relief may depend on the amount of inflammation, and other coexisting factors may also be responsible for your pain. Sometimes an injection can bring several weeks of pain relief. On other occasions, particularly when there is no underlying bone or joint problem, a single injection could produce long-term pain relief. If your pain is caused by injury to more than one area, only some of your symptoms may be helped by the injection.