Pain Management

Chronic pain is pain that continues a month or more beyond the usual recovery period for an injury or illness or goes on for months or years due to a chronic condition. The pain doesn’t have to be constant to be considered chronic. However, it often interferes with daily life at all levels.

An epidural steroid injection delivers corticosteroid medication around a nerve coming out from the spinal cord in an epidural space, which is the space between the dural sac and the boney spinal column. This is the space into which disc material can potentially herniate and cause pressure and inflammation around spinal nerves.

Corticosteroids are medications that have strong anti-inflammatory properties, and spinal injections of corticosteroids significantly reduce inflammation around an irritated nerve that is causing pain and discomfort.

Facet joint injections are given where two vertebrae join together. These joints allow the spine to bend and twist. Facet joint injections can decrease inflammation caused by arthritis and joint degeneration. A steroid injection includes both a corticosteroid (e.g., triamcinolone) and an anesthetic numbing agent (e.g., lidocaine or bupivacaine). The drugs are delivered to the painful joint inside the joint capsule.

A nerve block is an injection that decreases inflammation or “turns off” a pain signal along a specific distribution of nerves. Imaging guidance may be used to place the needle in the most appropriate location for maximum benefit. A nerve block may allow a damaged nerve time to heal, provide temporary pain relief, and help identify a more specific cause of pain.

Your physician will give specific instructions prior to the procedure. Generally, patients come in about 30 minutes prior to the procedure. Some patients require blood work to rule out an infection or bleeding risks. Patients can usually eat a light meal four hours prior to the procedure, and they can resume their normal eating habits immediately after the procedure.

Typically, a local anesthetic is injected into the skin, numbing the area where the epidural needle is placed. Patients may experience a mild discomfort but not severe pain.

If you experience severe back pain, new numbness or weakness of your legs, or signs of infection in the area of the injection, you should call your pain management physician right away at (860) 928-1267.