Greetings:
My wife is still working out the location of the best injection points on her body. From our research, we think that the abdomen is the best area for insulin injections and the thighs and buttocks are the worst areas but she is wondering about the back of her arms. Please forgive us, but some people might call the back of the arms the “batwings”. If offended, we are very sorry. However, are these the best areas on the upper arms for insulin injections? What about more towards the front of the arms? Finally, does anyone have a list of injection points on the human body from best to worse? Any information is greatly appreciated.
hi, Marad. if you click - here - there is a picture of all the good sites to inject. I’m on the pump now, but I gave myself shots for more than 20 years. I used my arms a lot with no problems - the backs of the arms. I also used my thighs and hips. If you put the “heel” of your hand on your hipbone, I inject everywhere my hand covers. You just need to have some good fat where you are injecting, and don’t go any closer than 2 inched from the belly button. And rotate, rotate, rotate!
I find for myself that my thigh is the best place to inject, for me the abdomen doesn’t work to well and only if I can’t do it myself does my mate hit me with it in the upper back of my arm.
only the stomach area for me…used to inject nite-time basal insulin into back hip area for awhile.
What needs to be added here , I believe , is how fast the insulin is being absorbed in certain areas. I used to dragon boat and never would inject into my arms , on the day I was going into the boat . Neither would I inject in my legs , if I was going to do a streneous walk .I was also taught to rotate, as Marie B mentioned , to avoid thickened ( scar tissue ) skin and lipohypertrophy ( fat tissue belows the skin swells) .It does take some planning .
That is why I only inject in my stomach area…for ME I know how it works…good point Nel…
The stomach is the easiest place the back of the arm is hard to reach just don’t use the same place all the time keep moving around till you find a place you feel good about if you use the same place all the time you’ll start seeing red spots poping up (rash)
I also inject in my stomach, but I find the top of my thighs are just as good. Arms were a no go for me.
I don’t have flabby arms and I sometimes will inject in them… I don’t find it to be all that comfortable though, injections usually burn for quite a while afterwards.
I’m usually using the super short 5mm pen needles… so I know I’m not hitting muscle or anything.
Been injecting for 19 years. 4 -5 times a day. Tummy area is the best for me. Sunday is the left side and ending the right side which is Saturday.
Check out this site for injection in the arm. He has lots of good videos about diabetes.
http://1happydiabetic.com/?cat=9
sid
I like to use the lower back (sometimes referred to as “love handles”). It is shown in this picture (the same one that Marie B posted). I have also used thigh and buttocks. I never noticed a difference between the sites. My doctor told me to use my abdomen, but I think it is more important to not always give the injection in the same place. You can get scar tissue if you give always in the same place.