[Creative Cultivation Program] Buttock injection VS arm injection, which is the better solution for vaccination?

Author: Chen Wen

Reviewer: Wang Wei, deputy chief physician of Shanghai Fifth People's Hospital affiliated to Fudan University

Recently, the epidemic has been recurring in various places. In addition to taking good precautions, we must also cooperate with vaccination according to our own conditions. However, I don’t know if you have noticed a phenomenon, that is, we now give injections in the arms, not in the buttocks.

Speaking of buttock injections, it is definitely a childhood trauma for many people born in the 1980s and 1990s - the pain during the injection is unbearable, and you feel uncomfortable sitting and sitting after the injection, but the effect is excellent, and headaches and fevers are cured quickly. However, why did buttock injections disappear from our lives and were replaced by arm injections?

First, let's take a look at the two ways of injecting drugs. Although both involve an injection, buttocks injections and arm injections are two completely different injection methods - the former refers to an intramuscular injection at an appropriate location behind the buttocks; the latter is a subcutaneous injection that injects the drug solution into the subcutaneous tissue.

This also explains why buttock injections are more painful than arm injections. Our skin can be divided into the epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue. Both injection methods must pass through the dermis and reach our nerve-rich subcutaneous tissue. However, the depths they reach are different - subcutaneous injections stay in our subcutaneous tissue and transport the active ingredients of the drug to the blood through the subcutaneous tissue; intramuscular injections reach muscles deeper than the subcutaneous tissue, allowing the drug to slowly enter the blood in the muscle layer.

An extra layer of subcutaneous tissue will be pierced, and people will inevitably become nervous and their muscles will contract when getting an injection, so an injection in the buttocks will indeed make you feel more painful.

However, there must be a reason why buttock injections, a method of intramuscular injection that we "hate", are widely used.

First of all, intramuscular injection is simpler and faster than subcutaneous injection. When giving a buttocks injection, you just need to find the right position and then stab it vertically, while subcutaneous injection such as arm injection requires the needle to penetrate the skin at a 45-degree angle to complete the injection. At this time, medical personnel not only need to find the right position, but also find a good angle, and have a steady hand, which is difficult to do without practice.

Secondly, although intramuscular injection is more painful, it is also safer.

Firstly, there are relatively few contraindications for intramuscular injection, and most drugs can be injected. For example, if you need to inject an oily or suspended drug, intramuscular injection is the best solution.

Secondly, intramuscular injections do not necessarily have to be given in the buttocks, but the buttocks are indeed the best injection location. The muscles in this area are relatively thick, making it difficult to pierce deeper blood vessels and avoid damaging bones. At the same time, the muscle tissue here is loose and rich in blood vessels, allowing the drug to take effect little by little, reducing side effects.

Thirdly, buttock injections can help parents and medical staff more effectively control children who are struggling in fear of injections, preventing them from breaking the needle during the struggle and causing greater harm.

However, buttock injections do have many unavoidable disadvantages, and it is normal that they are no longer "popular", especially in the process of large-scale vaccination.

First of all, taking off pants for injections affects efficiency and privacy. Imagine a hundred people waiting in line for injections. For arm injections, everyone can just roll up their sleeves and the procedure can be done quickly, but for buttock injections, a special cubicle must be prepared and pants must be taken off. The scene is so beautiful that it is hard to imagine.

Secondly, buttock injections are really painful! Not only does it hurt during the injection, but the pain can still be very strong after the injection, making it difficult for you to sit or stand, and it may even cause redness and swelling, which will seriously affect your life and work for a period of time. In addition, if you experience redness, swelling, pain, suppuration, etc. after the buttock injection, you must see a doctor immediately, otherwise it will cause gluteal muscle contracture and sciatic nerve damage, which will be very troublesome.

Finally, although there are relatively few contraindications for intramuscular injections, it does not guarantee that the injection effect will be good. Our buttocks are indeed an ideal location for intramuscular injections, but there is a lot of fat here, and some drugs will react with fat and finally precipitate inside, making it difficult for the drugs to work.

In addition, because vaccines are special, sometimes we don't know what reaction it will cause after being injected into our bodies. At this time, buttock injections are even worse than arm injections. Vaccinations through subcutaneous injections such as arm injections do cause reactions such as redness, swelling, heat and pain, but they usually disappear on their own in 3-5 days. However, when vaccines are given through intramuscular injections such as buttock injections, ordinary redness, swelling, heat and pain may further develop into local abscesses, causing more serious consequences.

In the final analysis, the injection method should be based on the specific situation and the doctor's advice to take corresponding measures. It cannot be generalized. Buttock injections have not disappeared, but they have their own mission. Different diseases still have different drug injection methods. This way you can kill two birds with one stone and is the best for your condition.

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This article is produced by the Science Popularization China-Creation Cultivation Program. Please indicate the source when reprinting