Epidural Steroid Injections
By Dr. Jeff Phelps
Orthopedic Spine Surgeon
Spine Works Institute
One of the safest simplest ways we can treat neck and back pain as well as sometimes sciatic pain is with the use of epidural steroid injections. What are epidural steroid injections? Epidural steroid injections is a general term that people use to describe the injection of steroids into the neck, middle or low back to help alleviate back pain as well as leg pain.
Most people use the term epidural steroid injections to describe many different kinds of injections. Some of these injections are injected into what are called the facet joints which are the actual joints of the back. This type of injection is typically used to help alleviate neck and back pain. Sometimes an injection is performed that is called a caudal epidural injection. Caudal epidural injection are injections that are placed into the canal in either the neck or the low back to help alleviate swelling of the nerves that typically cause radiating arm or leg pain.
The advantage to epidural steroid injections is that they are relatively easy to use or to perform. They are extremely low risk and the results are generally very good. The downside to epidural steroid injections is they don’t always correct the problem. It many cases it is a temporary fix but for many patients it is adequate enough to make the pain go away for a very long time.
We hope to achieve at least six months of pain relief with a steroid injection. These injections are often done in what is called a series meaning that the patient will have a set of injections done one day a week for two to three weeks to help alleviate and continue to knock down the inflammation. Sometimes patients get long periods of pain relief and unfortunately sometimes the problem is so bad that simple injections are not always the answer. As always though at the Spine Works Institute we feel that easy conservative care is always the best and for many patients a series of epidural injections can take care of the problems that they are experiencing with a minimal amount of pain and hassle.
Epidural Steroid Injections in Dallas Fort-Worth
If you or someone you know thinks you might benefit from epidural steroid injections we invite you for a consultation with one of the doctors at the Spine Works Institute.
