Pain Managing Back Injections

There are other options available to you if you are not obtaining good pain relief from oral medications if your condition is not severe enough to require surgery. These injections, if successful will allow you to move forward with other treatments that can be used to reduce your pain in the long term. Keep in mind though, that these injections are not a cure for what ails you, just because you no longer feel back pain does not mean you are cured of your problem ; you would still need to address the underlying issue as it is not possible for you to use these injections for pain relief indefinitely.

Back Pain Epidural Types

Epidural Steroid Injection

These are the most commonly used injections for back pain and can be administered in a doctors office with the help of televised X-rays so that the needle is placed in the correct area of the spine. The injection itself would be a mixture of a steroid, most often cortisone, a numbing agent for immediate relief and a pain narcotic that would help to reduce your pain long enough for the steroid to kick in. When you are dealing with a steroid injection unfortunately it is not recommended that you have more than 3 of these per year, this may not be possible if these injections are not giving you long lasting pain relief.

Caudal Epidural Steroid Injection

Very similar to the commonly used epidural steroid injection, the difference being where this injection is placed; a caudal injection would be performed very low on the spine at the base of your tailbone.

Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injection

Again very similar to the commonly administered epidural steroid injection, with this one the difference is where and how the needle gains access to the epidural space in the spine. With a Transforaminal injection your doctor would place the needle through the foraminal canal and into the epidural space. The foraminal canal is used by your nerves to exit the spine and spread out throughout the body.

Selective Nerve Block

This can be used as a treatment for back pain and as a way of diagnosing what nerves in your back are causing you back pain. This would be somewhat similar to a Transforaminal injection in that the medication is placed very close or on the nerves themselves.

Trigger Point Injection

This can be used if you have muscles that are failing to contract and relax and could be used on those who have myofascial pain syndrome. By injecting you with a numbing agent and a steroid it is hoped that the muscle will relax.

Prolo or Sclero Facet Injection

This can be used to induce scar tissue to form; by doing this your doctor hopes to tighten up lax tissue that may have become damaged as a result of an injury or degenerative condition. Success rates can vary quite a bit and this type of therapy is not widely used anymore due to this.