Evaluation of ultrasound-guided diagnostic local anaesthetic hip joint injection for osteoarthritis.

Purpose: The diagnosis of hip osteoarthritis is often complicated by co-existing pathology in the knee and spine, and mismatch between clinical and radiological signs. Temporary pain relief from a local anaesthetic injection into the hip joint has been reported to help localise symptoms, reducing the risk of unnecessary surgery being performed. We hypothesize that good surgical outcome is predicted by good analgesia following diagnostic injection, and that alternative pathology is present when there is no response to injection.