Epidural injections can relieve back or neck pain for days, weeks, or months, even in cases when the pain hasn’t improved with more conservative care. As a popular treatment for pain management, these injections include a corticosteroid to bring down swelling in the targeted area.
Back and neck pain can be long-lasting causes of disability. In many cases, they originate in or around the spine, where there are many nerves and nerve roots. Inflammation in these areas can pressure nerve roots, especially in the neck and lower back.
At Johnston Pain Management PA in Jacksonville, Hampstead, and New Bern, North Carolina, our team of specialists can help you determine if epidural steroid injections are appropriate for your neck or back pain treatment. Here’s everything you need to know about how and when they work best.
Epidural steroid injections go into the epidural space, an area encapsulating the spinal cord. When a nerve is pinched or inflamed, your provider targets it with an epidural injection that includes a steroid. The steroid coats the targeted nerve and reduces pressure, which gives the original injury or damage time to heal.
Sometimes, neck or back pain spreads into other areas like your arms or legs. This is called referred pain, and it happens because the irritated nerve travels to a given area. If you have referred pain from a spinal injury, the epidural steroid injection might improve it, too.
Most people experience temporary pain relief from an epidural injection, but some experience long-lasting or even permanent pain relief.
Neck and back pain can come from overuse of the spine, degenerative conditions, or short-term injuries leading to chronic pain. Epidural injections at Johnston Pain Management can treat neck or back pain caused by:
These conditions are most common in the cervical spine (neck) and lumbar spine (lower back) but can occur anywhere along your spinal column.
Our team invites you to Johnston Pain Management for a detailed treatment consultation. The team evaluates your neck or back pain and may recommend other therapies, such as low-dose antidepressants or over-the-counter pain relievers, before suggesting epidural injections.
If you’ve tried other therapies without improvement, you may be a candidate for epidural injections. The team also asks about your current medications, supplements, and overall health to ensure that epidural injections align with your needs.
Schedule your consultation for neck or back pain treatment online or over the phone at Johnston Pain Management today.
