What Is Epidural Steroid Injection & Is It Right for You?

If you’ve been dealing with back pain that you sustained in a car accident or you are healing from a sports injury, then you’re not alone. Intense spinal pain and discomfort can cause you significant stress and impact your daily activities. While standard physical therapy might be a valuable part of your treatment, there also are some interventional pain management techniques that we use at BackFit Health + Spine to help you live a life free of back pain, including epidural steroid injections. 

Epidural Steroid Injection Explained

Between the bones of your spine and the protective sac of your spinal nerves is a fat-filled space known as the epidural space. When the nerves become inflamed due to injury or a herniated disc, excruciating pain can travel through this epidural space. 

An epidural steroid injection (ESI) contains a corticosteroid and an anesthetic numbing agent, and is delivered directly into the epidural space. The solution reduces inflammation of the nerves and flushes away the proteins that cause swelling. Depending on your pain level and the strength of the solution, one injection could provide relief for a couple of days to a couple of years. 

There are three types of Epidural Steroid Injections:

• Cervical ESI, which is used to treat neck pain.
• Lumbar ESI, which is used on the lower back nerve canal
• Caudal ESI, which focuses on the sacral hiatus above the tailbone to reach the lowest spinal nerves. 

Am I a Candidate for an ESI?

If you’ve been treating pain in your legs, arms, neck, and back for some time, you might benefit from an ESI treatment. As an interventional pain management treatment, an injection is meant to alleviate your symptoms. You might be a good candidate if you have:

• Spinal stenosis or a narrowing of the spinal canal.
• Spondylolisthesis, which is a weakness or fracture between the upper and lower facets of a vertebra.
• A herniated disc.
• Degenerative disc or a breakdown in the intervertebral disc.
• Sciatica

You might also want to consider an ESI if you’re going through rehabilitation therapy and your back pain is keeping you from moving forward in your progress. It’s important to note that an ESI is not for those that may have an infection or who might be pregnant.

Our team of doctors are extremely knowledgeable when it comes to considering interventional pain management and can help guide you through the entire process. To speak to a member of our staff, call (480) 534-4235. We have nine locations throughout the Phoenix Valley, and we look forward to helping you explore your interventional pain management options.