How do spinal injections work

When performed properly, the risk of any of these is exceedingly low and usually outweighed by the potential benefit of the procedure. Some contraindications for performing epidural steroid injections include:.

Common side effects include mild injection site pain, temporary worsening of usual pain, flushing, insomnia, or increased blood sugar. These are usually self-limited and resolve within one to three days. A less common side effect is headache. Your doctor will give you specific instructions and these will vary by facility and type of epidural lumbar, thoracic or cervical.

Because the procedure is usually performed with local anesthetic, fasting guidelines are not overly prohibitive.

A local anesthetic is injected into the skin, numbing the area where the epidural needle is then placed. Patients may experience mild discomfort but should not experience severe pain during the procedure. The procedure can last anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes and requires the patient to lie prone, if possible, to allow for X-ray guidance fluoroscopy.

After the procedure, you can sit, stand, and walk as usual after a short period of monitoring. Epidural steroid injections at HSS are performed by several types of doctors — pain management physicians , physiatrists and interventional radiologists — all of whom are trained to safely perform this procedure, often with additional subspecialty fellowship training. What are epidural steroid injections? What are epidural corticosteroid injections used for?

It will only take a few minutes to give you the epidural injection but it may take longer to have imaging such as X-rays. It might take around 30 minutes to complete the procedure. Your doctor or nurses will take you to a recovery room after the procedure.

The nursing staff will monitor you for a short time before you're able to leave. They may check your blood pressure or pulse, and ask if you're experiencing any side-effects. The nursing staff looking after you will make sure that you can stand up when you feel ready. You'll usually be able to go home within a few hours after your injection, and sometimes much sooner.

Ideally, you should also have someone stay with you for your first night at home after your procedure. It can take several days to feel any effects from the injection. In fact, some people find that their pain gets worse at first. This should settle down within a few days. Try to keep as active as you can, and as your pain improves, you can gradually increase how much you do. There's good evidence that epidural injections can help many people with back and leg pain. How likely it is to work for you depends on many factors.

For instance, you're more likely to benefit if your pain is due to a slipped disc, rather than spinal stenosis. And the injection is more likely to work if you haven't had symptoms for very long. The success rate will also vary between doctors and depend on the technique they use. Ask your doctor how these factors apply to you. If you do get pain relief from an epidural injection, it tends to be short lived days or weeks.

Some people do find that it works for longer — up to several months or more. The amount of pain relief you get and how long it lasts varies from person to person. If an epidural injection does help to relieve your pain, you may find it easier to keep active or take part in other treatments, such as physiotherapy.

Side-effects are unwanted but mostly temporary effects that you may get from having the procedure. The main side-effect associated with epidural injections is mild discomfort in the area where you have the injection. This usually gets better on its own within a few days.

Some people have a reaction to the medicines used in the injection. For instance, you may have skin reactions, such as flushing or a rash. You may also have a short-term increased risk of infections. If you are a woman, you may have changes to your menstrual cycle. Some people feel sick or dizzy, and may faint. It's possible for the local anaesthetic from the injection to spread, causing temporary numbness or weakness in your legs.

This should get better very quickly. More serious complications from epidural injections are rare, but it's important to be aware of them. They include the following. Your doctor will have measures in place aimed at keeping the risk of these complications as low as possible.

Have a think about any questions you would like to ask your doctor before you decide whether to have an epidural spinal injection or not. Here are some example questions you might like to ask. Our short survey takes just a few minutes to complete and helps us to keep improving our health information.

At Bupa we produce a wealth of free health information for you and your family. This is because we believe that trustworthy information is essential in helping you make better decisions about your health and wellbeing.

It also follows the principles of the The Information Standard. You are here Treatment Injections. By Richard Staehler, MD. Peer Reviewed. Epidural Steroid Injections Video.

Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine. Cham, Switzerland: Springer; Patel K, Upadhyayula S. Epidural Steroid Injections. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Chang, Douglas, Zlomislic, Vinko. Chapter Lumbar Spinal Injections.

This choice is yours. You can choose to have the procedure done under local anesthetic only. You can also choose to have IV sedation, which can keep you very comfortable. It can range from some drowsiness or you may have little or no memory of the procedure depending upon your comfort level, regardless of the amount of sedation, you must not eat or drink anything for 6 hours prior to this and you must also have a driver when choosing sedation.

It is OK to take your medications with a sip of water with either decision. It is typically done with you lying on your stomach. Your blood pressure and oxygenation will be monitored. In addition to your doctor and the x-ray technician, there will be a nurse in the room at all times if you have any questions or discomfort during the procedure. The skin on the back is cleaned with antiseptic solution and then the procedure is done.

Immediately after the injection, you may feel your legs becoming slightly heavy or numb. You may notice that your pain may be gone or considerably less. This is due to the effect of the local anesthetic and lasts only for a few hours. Your pain may return and you may have some soreness at the injection site for a day or so. You should start noticing pain relief starting about days after the procedure.

We advise the patients to take it easy for a day or so after the procedure.