Back Pain Injections

A 2010 report by the Global Burden of Disease found that lower back pain was the leading cause of disabilities across the globe. Approximately 50% of all Americans suffer from back pain every year and approximately 80% of all Americans experience back pain at least once in a year.

These statistics highlight just how prevalent back pain issues are and how important it is to seek back pain treatment. Some of the most common symptoms of back pain include muscle spasms, stabbing pains, sciatica pain, extreme pain while walking or bending, weakness, and back pain accompanied by fever.

When it comes to back pain treatment, you must avoid surgical and narcotic treatments completely. This is because surgeries are complicated, risky, and have a relatively low success rate. And narcotic treatments don’t address the underlying root cause of back pain — they only provide short-term relief and can even lead to addiction. In fact, over-reliance on opioid management has thrown the US into an opioid crisis.

The best way to treat back pain is to first identify the root cause of back pain and then proceed to minimally invasive and non-surgical treatments. This can be tricky because back pain can be caused by various factors like herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, sacroiliac joint dysfunction, spinal stenosis, osteoarthritis, and spinal deformity.

When you visit an interventional pain specialist for back pain treatment, they’ll first diagnose the root cause of back pain using a variety of physical tests, lab tests, and imaging tests like CT scans, ultrasound, MRIs, and X-rays. Once the doctor identifies the root cause of back pain, they’ll proceed to the treatment.

While there are a lot of potential minimally invasive back pain treatments available, the best and most convenient options are back pain injections. In this article, we give you a detailed overview of the best back pain injections available.

Epidural Injection

An Epidural Injection, also known as a Corticosteroid, is a minimally invasive treatment for back pain. It can reduce inflammation caused by diseases like spinal stenosis or disc herniation. During this procedure, a medicine is injected into the epidural space, i.e., the fat-filled area between the bone and the protective sac. This procedure can provide back pain relief for several months or even years.

During the procedure, the back pain doctor first applies anesthesia to your skin to numb the region. The doctor may also provide a mild sedative — such as a Valium — to minimize discomfort. The epidural needle is injected into the epidural space under fluоrоѕсорe guidance. Once the medicine is delivered to the inflamed nerves, it will reduce inflammation and you’ll experience immediate pain relief. The whole procedure will only take 15 to 30 minutes.

Side Effects of Epidural Injection

An epidural injection is an extremely safe procedure and there’s a negligible risk of side effects. At most, you may experience some anxiety, headaches, sleeplessness, slight fever, weight gain, or short-term decrease in immunity. In extremely rare cases, you may experience bleeding or infection — however, you can minimize the possibility of this by visiting a reputable pain treatment clinic.

Advantages of Epidural Injection

The following are the primary advantages of an epidural injection procedure:

• Extremely effective and provides immediate relief.
• Outpatient procedure so you can resume your daily activities immediately.
• It causes minimal pain or discomfort because of the local anesthetic and sedative.
• Steroid immediately reduces inflammation.
• Minimally invasive and non-surgical.
• Concludes within 30 minutes.

Disadvantages of Epidural Injection

In rare cases, steroid epidural injection may weaken the tendons and cartilage. However, you should only get this done by an extremely experienced board-certified pain specialist to minimize risks.