First time shallow IM. More painful than deep IM?

[krm]

Hi guys, I usually do "deep" IM (with a roughly 20mm / 6/8" needle in 25G) into my quads. I do this ED, alternating between 16 sites (2 "lines" of 4 spots in the "available middle outer third" of each quad). Never any issues, little bit of a sting when entering (I do it slowly) but apart from a little soreness, no PIP.

Yesterday, I tried shallow IM for the first time with a 1/2", 29G needle. hit it right in real quick (as the needle is so short, wasn't worried about hitting any nerves/veins). Virtually painless. Great!

A few days later, this injection turned out to be the most "painful" so far (painful being relative to other injections). It's a shart pain in the injection site everytime I move my leg, it hurts when putting pressure on the spot, and it's overall "uncomfortable".

Given that I never had this with "deep" IM (20+mm), I was wondering whether I just hit a shallow nerve or something and it's just bad luck that this is on my first "shallow IM" injection? Thanks!

 

[Vince]

I also inject with an Easy Touch 29g 1/2"syringe. I never inject in the quad, it does get sore for me there. I only inject in my shoulders and ventorgluteal

 

[mooseman109]

I ise same needles as vince, i do quads twice a week. Most of the time no issue. A couple of times i must have hit a nerve as it smarted a bit. I have problems with shoilders, i just dont think i get relaxed enough there

 

[Vince Carter]

Everyone has a post site reaction like this from time-to-time, it's a minor problem and as long as you're monitoring for infection, it's otherwise benign. A good vigorous rub and hold some pressure on the spot after removal can help post site reactions.

 

[fifty]

I don’t think a .5” vs a 20mm is going to help you avoid veins. Most of those are on the surface. I would chalk it up to a different injection style Stabbing vs pushing