If you’ve been dealing with neck and back pain, which may radiate down to your buttocks and legs, due to issues with arthritis, disc degeneration, or a herniated disc, you don’t necessarily need to have surgery to find relief. Spine surgeons usually explore non-surgical methods of managing pain before recommending surgery.
Steroid injections are a popular treatment for patients with neck and back pain due to their superior ability to relieve pain symptoms. Steroid injections are an in-office procedure, and the technique is minimally invasive, which allows patients to return to their normal lives quickly.
If you are curious, here’s what to expect from steroid injections for pain management.
How Are Steroid Injections Given?
Steroid injections for spinal pain are delivered in the epidural space, or the space that surrounds the space around the spinal cord or the facet joints, which is the area on both sides of a vertebra, one of the many small bones forming the backbone, or the sacroiliac joint, which is the area where the spine meets the pelvis.
With steroid injections, you can expect the following:
Quick Relief
One of the main advantages of steroid injections is that they provide quick relief from back and neck pain. The injection delivers medication directly into the affected area, which helps reduce inflammation quickly and effectively. Each injection contains an anesthetic and steroids, which control tissue inflammation. The quick relief offered by steroids may mean reduced reliance on pain medications and not having to wait days or weeks for treatment to take effect.
Effective Relief from Pain
Steroid injections are a pain management treatment, and they are superior in their ability to relieve pain. Steroids are synthetically made hormones that are produced by the body naturally to control inflammation. When delivered directly to the site of injury, the results are significant, enough to restore function to the patient. When pain is reduced, you can focus on other important things in your life.
Improved Mobility
Pain and inflammation can limit mobility. Once inflammation is brought down, you can move more freely without restrictions imposed by the condition and work towards getting back to normal activities, such as your job, hobbies, or daily exercise.
Longer Lasting Relief
One of the greatest advantages associated with steroid injection therapy is its ability to provide longer-lasting relief than other forms of treatment, such as over-the-counter medications or physical therapy exercises. By targeting inflammation directly at its source rather than just masking symptoms, individuals may find they experience fewer pain flare-ups and longer periods of relief between treatments compared to other methods. The results of steroid injections can last as long as three months at a time.
Steroid Injections for Neck and Back Pain in Rochester Hills, MI
The friendly team of spine specialists at Ahlgren Spine focuses on helping patients ease their symptoms and return to normal. Depending on your condition, we may recommend steroid injections in the cervical (neck), thoracic (upper and middle back), or lumbar (lower back) region of the back, or the facet or sacroiliac joints. We work closely with a pain management doctor to help give you the most comprehensive care possible for your spinal pain.
To schedule an appointment with a spine surgeon, call our office today at (248) 215-8080, or use our convenient online request form.
