Many people have reported pain at the injection site after receiving a shot of COVID-19 vaccine, but intense and prolonged pain after injection could be caused by shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA), a Taipei City Hospital doctor said.
Chen Hsin-chang (陳信彰), an orthopedist at the hospital’s Heping Fuyou Branch, said that discomfort at the injection site is one of the most common side effects of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, which include redness, swelling, heat, pain and limited range of motion.
The discomfort is usually mild for most vaccine recipients, but a few might feel intense pain at the injection site to the extent that they need to take a day or two off work to recover, he said.
SIRVA usually occurs immediately after vaccine injection, Chen said.
Statistics suggests that about 90 percent had symptoms of SIRVA within 24 hours after vaccination, but rarely three days after receiving a jab, Chen said, adding that bacterial infection should be ruled out when diagnosing it.
SIRVA manifestations include shoulder bursitis, tendonitis, rotator cuff tear and adhesive capsulitis, also known as frozen shoulder, he said.
SIRVA might occur when a vaccine is injected too high or too deep in the shoulder, injuring the subacromial bursa or other nonmuscular tissues, rather than given in the deltoid muscle, he said.
In addition to avoiding giving the injection too high in the shoulder, healthcare providers can ask the vaccine recipient to bend their arm at the elbow, away from the body and resting on the hip, to avoid having the subacromial bursitis, tendon and articular capsule under the acromion getting injected, he said.
Asked whether people should avoid pressing and massaging the injection site with their fingers, Chen said studies on SIRVA did not discuss if pressing and massaging the injection site after vaccination is recommended, but he thinks that massaging the injection site does not affect muscle tissue.
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