Knee - aspiration and injection

• Always clean the skin with an antiseptic

• Use a fresh needle with a syringe of LA to enter a joint

How do you know you are in the joint?

• Between the bones of the joint

• Fluid can be drawn off

• Injection effortless

• Needle easy to wave

Keep the LA for joint injection after aspiration and change to an empty syringe

• Aspirate as much as possible

• Change from pulling with finger to pulling with thumb

Click on the icon above to activate the video clip demonstrating the change over from LA to an empty syringe for joint aspiration of a moderate effusion.

Learning Point: Use the empty sterile blister pack from the local anaesthetic to catch any drips of fluid from the knee you can see this in the clip above to right of the thigh above the blanket.