Steroid injections have been used for relieving back pain, especially sciatica. East Brunswick steroid injections are a common approach to pain relief that works by reducing inflammation around the spinal cord and spinal nerves. They offer just temporary relief from pain; however, they can let patients avoid surgery when coupled with therapeutic exercise. Epidural injections can be used for treating sciatica because of herniated discs, foraminal spinal stenosis, degenerated discs, and spondylolisthesis. Also, they can be used for treating nerve pain because of spinal cysts and vertebral fractures.
Factors that Can Impact the Treatment’s Outcome
The following factors will influence the outcome of epidural steroid injections for back pain:
- Treating the condition. Typically, epidural steroid injections can effectively treat back pain accompanied with leg pain than lower back pain alone. Doctors can use various injection techniques for conditions that impact lower back pain not accompanied by leg pain.
- Injection technique. There are many ways to administer epidural injections. It is focused on reaching the epidural area that surrounds the spinal cord. This can be done through the transforaminal, interlaminar, and caudal routes.
- Type of steroid chosen. Patients can choose water-soluble or poorly soluble steroids, which tend to have longer-term effects.
- Anesthetic addition. Local anesthetics may be added to some injection preparations to allow for faster action than steroids and help decrease pain signals sent by inflamed nerves.
Combining epidural steroid injection treatment with a comprehensive rehab program can improve pain and functional results. Such a combination uses the injection’s anti-inflammatory effect to minimize the symptoms. In turn, this ensures better progress in the rehab program and long-term improvement.
Conditions that Epidural Steroid Injections Can Effectively Treat
Epidural steroid injections have been found to treat the following effectively:
- Pinched nerves. Sciatica is caused by pinched nerves in the legs, low back, and feet. Using steroids will prevent inflammation and decrease the immune response that lets the injection alleviate overall pain in the region.
- Lumbar spinal stenosis. The narrowing of the spinal cord because of lumbar spinal stenosis will block it and the normal function of the nerve, resulting in serious pain and inflammation.
- Lumbar disc herniation. The pain associated with this condition occurs since the nucleus of the disc pushes through the annulus and into the spinal canal.
- Spinal compression fractures. The majority of spinal compression fractures heal by themselves using back braces, physical therapy, bed rest, and pain medication, including epidural steroid injections.