Testosterone injections are a popular way to increase muscle mass and strength. But what happens if testosterone is not injected into the muscle?
Does it just sit around uselessly inside your body? Or does it do something else?
I have done a lot of research to put this article together. Also, I’ve had a lot of help from a sports medicine physician.
So, please fasten your seat belts, and let’s dive into the world of testosterone.
What happens if Testosterone is Not Injected Into The
Muscle?
If testosterone does not hit the muscle, it may end up damaging the nerve, bone, or blood vessels and result in pain, tingling or numbness, and bleeding or hematoma the formation, which may be followed by infection, abscess (pus) formation, ischemia, gangrene (death of muscular tissue) or muscle fibrosis.
Results of Testosterone Not Being Injected Into The Muscle
When testosterone does not go into the muscle, it may end up in your blood vessel. In such a case, bleeding may occur, and you may experience mild twitching and cramps.
If the syringe goes deep, it can also injure the bone and surrounding tissue, resulting in inflammation and infection of the bone.
Nerve injury can cause pain, numbness, or tingling sensation. For example, the sciatic nerve is very vulnerable to injury in a gluteal intramuscular injection. In addition, the injection syringe may also damage a nerve.
A hematoma (blood collection outside blood vessels) may get formed in the worst-case scenario. If left untreated, it can damage the muscle in many ways. For example, bacteria may get into the hematoma from the skin and cause infection, muscle abscess, and gangrene.
Muscle atrophy and fibrosis are possible complications of a hematoma, ischemia, neuropathy, and myopathy.
Injecting Testosterone and Sports
Besides medical reasons, testosterone use for performance enhancement, increasing lean body mass, and gaining muscle strength in middle-aged and older men are becoming fairly common.
While the steroid carries many side effects for the body, injecting testosterone intramuscularly (IM) is also not free of adverse outcomes.
Although local site reactions to an IM injection are rare when the injection is given by a professional, the risk of complications increases if the person doing the injection is inexperienced. In addition, repeated same-site injections also raise the complication risk further.
Where and How to Inject Testosterone?
Testosterone is commonly injected into the muscles, especially the bigger muscles, including the glutes, quads, and delts on the buttocks, anterior thigh, and shoulder, respectively. Since you have to go deep to deliver the testosterone dose into a muscle, the needle used is one to one and a half inches long.
Your glutes are the safest muscles to inject testosterone, followed by quads and delts. Imagine your buttock divided into four quadrants for gluteal injection and injected into the upper outer quadrant. For quad injection, inject into the outer mid-thigh.
However, injecting it into the deltoid is quite tricky. If necessary, go into the central, thickest portion of the deltoid above the armpit level at a nearly 90-degree angle.
However, these days subcutaneous injections are also popular. These injections are given into the fat layer under the skin but before the muscles, commonly in the abdominal area.
What is the Best Way to Inject Testosterone?
Testosterone injections are typically given intramuscularly. For one, the muscle has a better blood supply than the subcutaneous fat, so testosterone gets absorbed quickly. And for two, muscles can handle a larger volume of testosterone.
As a result, you can easily inject 1 ml of testosterone into your muscle without any side effects.
However, the subcutaneous route is also gaining popularity. Subcutaneous injections require a small needle syringe with a narrow gauge (like the one used for insulin shots). These injections do not cause as much pain, irritation, and other side effects as intramuscular injections.
In addition, the subcutaneous tissue shows the depot effect because a lower blood supply makes it ideal for slow, sustained absorption rates. Research suggests that subcutaneous injections help achieve similar or even higher testosterone levels with a lower increase in hemoglobin and hematocrit levels post-therapy.
However, if your testosterone administration protocol requires an injection once a week, subcutaneous injections might not be favorable. Due to its lower capacity, you can not inject 1 ml (the typical weekly dose of 200mg/ml) of testosterone into the subcutaneous tissue without having a knot-like ball for days.
How to Inject Testosterone Subcutaneously?
If you think the subcutaneous route best suits your needs, you need a small needle syringe with a narrow gauge. After drawing 50mg to 100mg of testosterone (0.25ml to 0.50ml), pinch a fold of skin between your index finger and thumb.
Hold the syringe like a pencil and insert the needle at a 45 to 90-degree angle to the pinched skin so that the skin completely covers the needle. After which, inject the testosterone and remove the syringe. Use an alcoholic cotton swab to reduce irritation or pain.
FAQ’S Corner
At What Age Does Testosterone Stop?
After we hit 4- testosterone levels decrease yearly by approximately 1-3%. It decreases, but it usually doesn’t drastically stop.
Conclusion
While injecting testosterone into the muscles is reasonably easy, you need to be careful to eliminate the risk of side effects, like vessel, nerve, or bone injury. These minor injuries can cause considerable damage if left untreated.
However, if you find it difficult to inject testosterone intramuscularly, the subcutaneous route might be an excellent alternative.
In this case, you might need twice-weekly injections instead of one due to the lower volume-holding capacity of the subcutaneous tissue than muscles.
You have a good idea now of what happens if testosterone is not injected into the muscle.
If you have any more comments or questions, please leave them in the comment section below. I will be happy to reply as quickly as I can.
