Back Pain: When to Give Epidural Injections a Shot

Back pain can bring you down and stop you from doing what you want. If you’re not finding relief from your pain with medications, it may be time to consider the benefits of epidural injections.

At AABP Integrative Pain Care, our team of interventional pain specialists diagnose and treat the root cause of chronic back pain. We focus on holistic and integrative services, so you can avoid surgery and its complications.

Why your back keeps hurting

Chronic back pain describes pain that lasts for six months or longer. This type of pain can result from a car accident or other serious trauma. You may also be at risk for chronic back pain because of degenerative changes in your spine that become more common as you age.

Common causes of chronic back pain include:

• Sciatica
• Fractures
• Herniated disc
• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Spondylolisthesis
• Spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spine)
• Radiculopathy (pinched nerve)

If you previously had back surgery, you may develop chronic surgery-related pain – a condition known as failed back surgery syndrome.

When to get treatment for back pain

If you have acute back pain from muscle sprains or overuse injuries, you can expect to feel some relief with rest and the use of over-the-counter medications.

When your back pain is the result of arthritis, spinal stenosis, or other underlying medical issues, you may have pain that worsens even with home care. If you have this type of pain, you should schedule a diagnostic consultation with our team at AABP Integrative Pain Care as soon as possible to keep your condition from worsening.

We also recommend that you schedule a consultation if you have back pain that limits what you can do physically, affects your ability to work, or lessens your mobility. Our physicians use the on-site X-rays and other diagnostic imaging technologies to identify what’s causing your pain, so you can begin treatment.

Our treatment plans focus on relieving your pain in the long-term and reducing your need for invasive procedures like surgery. We can often use epidural steroid injections to help you manage your back pain in the long-term.

Relieving back pain with epidural injections

Epidural injections deliver steroid medications directly into the epidural space of your spine that surrounds your spinal cord and nerve roots. By delivering the medications into your spine, you receive full benefit of their anti-inflammatory properties.

We can also add an anesthetic medication into your injection to disrupt pain signals that travel from your nerves to your brain. Together with the steroids, the anesthetic can provide long-lasting relief of back pain and increased mobility.

More mobility means that you can participate in physical therapy and other activities that strengthen the muscles in your back, so you can stay pain-free. We also offer other types of injectable therapies, like nerve blocks, trigger point injections, and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections to address the root cause of your back pain.

Don’t put off a diagnostic evaluation for back pain. You can book a consultation online today or call the AABP Integrative Pain Care office nearest you to schedule an appointment.