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Cervical, Thoracic and Lumbar Treatments

When back pain won’t go away, your doctor may include injections to ease your back pain and inflammation. These shots usually consist of a steroid and a local anesthetic.

While these shots help some people, not everyone gets the same relief. Back injections may help treat two major back pain problems:

  • Inflammation or damage to a nerve, usually in the neck or the low back. Called radiculopathy, the issue originates where the nerve exits the spine. Sharp pain shoots from the lower back down into one or both legs, or from the neck into the arm. A herniated disk can be the cause.
  • Spinal stenosis, or narrowing of the spine. Stenosis can happen because a herniated disk is pressing on the spine or because a bone spur is jutting into the spine. Less common, it can be caused if a tumor presses on the spine. No matter the cause, spinal stenosis compresses the nerves inside, causing pain in the buttock or leg. You also may have back pain. The pain from spinal stenosis may get worse when you’re active, and ease up when you lean forward.

Doctors use injections for other types of back pain as well. Sometimes they are used to help find what’s causing the pain.

What Happens During an Injection?

There are several kinds of injections, including:

  • Epidural Steroids
  • Nerve block
  • Discography

Epidural injections include a steroid medicine, also called a corticosteroid, and usually an anesthetic medicine. The effects of epidural shots can offer modest to complete pain relief. They can often provide both short and long-term (greater than 6 months) relief.  Conservative therapy is often recommended for the first 4-6 weeks as long as the pain is not incapacitating.

In a nerve block, a doctor injects the area around the nerve with an anesthetic. Lidocaine is the anesthetic most commonly used. After a nerve block injection, you’ll have numbness with near-complete pain relief. It wears off after several hours. Corticosteroids may be added in hopes that it will provide longer term relief.

In discography, the disc is pressurized using fluid via a direct injection. The goal is to elucidate pain identical to the patient’s routine pain. The procedure is controversial because of its highly subjective conclusions. False positive and false negative results are common.

Possible Side Effects

Mild soreness or pain at the site after an injection is common. Headache, nausea and vomiting may also occur. It’s rare, but injections can cause bleeding or infection.

ACL Repair Arthrodesis Arthroplasty Blepharoplasty Bunion/Hammer Toe Correction Cervical, Thoracic and Lumbar Treatments Discography Dupuytren's Surgery Endoscopic Carpal Tunnel Release Endoscopic Sinus Surgery Epidural Steroid Injection Eyelid Surgery for Aging Eyes Facet Joint Injections Facet Pain Interventional Procedures Ganglion Mass Excision GreenLight Laser Therapy Intercostal Nerve Blocks Joint Arthroscopy: Knee, Shoulder and Ankle Joint Injections Ligament Repair Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure (LEEP) Male Infant Circumcision Monitored Anesthesia Care (MAC) Neuraxial Anesthesia Open Reduction Internal Fixation (ORIF) Orthopedic Procedures Pain Stimulator Insertion (Spinal Cord Stimulation) Pediatric Anesthesia Peripheral Nerve Blocks Plantar Fasciotomy Podiatry Procedures Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) Radiofrequency Lesioning Repair of Fractures, Tendons, Nerves Revision Sinus Surgery Revision of Fingertip Amputation Rotator Cuff Repair Sacroiliac Joint Injection Selective Nerve Blocks (SNRB) Sinuplasty Skin Flap Skin Graft Spinal Cord Stimulation Trial Spine Procedures Supartz Knee Injections Sympathetic Ganglion Ablations Sympathetic Nerve Blocks Tenosynovectomy Trigger Point Injections
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The Center for Ambulatory Surgery
1450 Route 22 West,
Mountainside, NJ 07092

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