WebMD Medical News Laura J. Martin, MD Feb. 10, 2011 -- Warming
local anesthetics may reduce the pain experienced during
injections, a new study finds. “Warming an injection is a cost-
free step that emergency physicians can take to reduce pain from
a shot,” study author Anna Taddio, MD, of the University of
Toronto, says in a news release. “Patients often dread the sight
of a needle, but doing something as simple as warming the
injection to body temperature can make a painful part of an
emergency department visit more tolerable,” she says. The study
authors write that local anesthetics are the main type of
analgesics used for pain management during laceration repair and
other minor surgeries. When the anesthetic is injected, a
burning or stinging sensation may occur. The research team
reviewed data on 831 patients in 18 studies, finding that
warming injections produced a “clinically meaningful reduction
in pain,” whether the amount of anesthetic being injected was
large or small. The injections were warmed us