Guided Procedures

Diagnostic Ultrasound and Ultrasound Guided Procedures

SDCPL is pleased to announce that our practice offers the advanced medical technology of point-of-care ultrasound. While many of you may be familiar with health care providers using ultrasound to view babies in the womb, we use this safe, non-invasive technology to view the internal anatomy of joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, and other tissues. We can even use ultrasound to visualize these parts moving in real time, all while you are watching.

Additionally, we can use the ultrasound to assist and verify placement of injectable medications when necessary to a specific, targeted area. Ultrasound-guided injections are non-surgical procedures used to treat inflammation and pain in specific areas of the body when traditional injections fail to control pain symptoms and surgical intervention is not an option for treatment. The ultrasound is a machine that uses sound waves to generate an image of the relevant anatomy live in real time. This allows the provider to have more precision in placing the medication in the target area. Common applications for ultrasound guided injections include muscle and tendon strains, arthritis, calcium deposits, bone spurs, and nerve irritation or compression. So if you have ever had an injection for arthritis or other diagnoses that failed to provide relief and surgery is not an option, consider having one of our specialists at the Rochester General Sports Medicine Institute evaluate you for possible treatment with an ultrasound-guided injection.

Ultrasound-guided injections are often used in conjunction with other non-surgical treatments like physical therapy exercises and behavior modification. The procedure is done as an outpatient just like any other regular office consultation with a specialist. As the technology uses sound waves to generate the image, there is no ionizing radiation exposure like when you have an x-ray or CT scan.