What is an Epidural Steroid Injection?
Epidural steroid injections (ESIs) are a common treatment option for patients who have back and leg pain. The pain is due to inflamed spinal nerves due to spinal stenosis or disc herniation. The medicines are delivered to the epidural space, which is a fat-filled area between the bone and the protective sac of the spinal nerves.
Lumbar epidural injection have been used for low back problems since the early 1950s and are still an important part of managing lower back pains. The goal of the treatment is to have pain relief, and the injection alone is sufficient enough to give the patient relief and resume normal activities. An epidural steroid injection is usually combined with a comprehensive rehabilitation program to be more effective.
Many healthcare providers will agree that the effects of the injection are temporary, providing pain relief for one week up to one year. An injection can provide sufficient pain relief to allow a patient to progress with a rehabilitative stretching and exercise program. If the initial injection is effective for a patient, he or she may have up to three in a one-year period.
What happens during an epidural steroid injection procedure?
This is usually the procedure for an lumbar epidural injection procedure:
- Your physician or pain management doctor will use an X-ray machine to guide the needle and ensure that the medicine is being injected in the right place.
- Contrast dye is injected at the location to make sure that the medicine will be sent to the exact place it needs to go.
- The physician will inject the steroid medicine itself, often along with a local anesthetic to help with pain relief.
To learn more about lumbar ESI and when is the right time to undergo treatment, contact RSPI today. Your lumbar spine specialist NJ, serving Plainsboro, Princeton and it's surrounding areas.
