Epidural Steroid Injections Can Help Alleviate Chronic Leg and Back Pain

Chronic back and leg pain can be hard to cope with on a day-to-day basis. It’s the little things like lifting the laundry out of the washer, reaching up for that top shelf item, and carrying the kids upstairs that can make the daily grind of living with chronic pain so difficult to handle. Not being able to do the activities you want or need to do without that ever present pain can affect your mental health, too.

One effective form of treatment that we regularly use for chronic leg and back pain here at the International Spine, Pain & Performance Center is epidural steroid injections. They could be just the solution you’ve been looking for to gain immediate and long-lasting relief from your pain and inflammation.

An epidural steroid injection delivers medication directly to the source of your pain

Chronic back and leg pain is often caused by a mechanical issue to your bones, joints, ligaments, or muscles in your back, causing swelling and inflammation. These issues might be triggered by a range of problems such as degenerative disc disease, herniated disc, sciatica, or spinal stenosis.

Local anesthetic with a corticosteroid injected directly into your epidural space, located inside your spine between the dura mater and the vertebral wall, provides immediate pain relief and long-lasting reduction in the inflammation of your spine and its surrounding structures.

By reducing the inflammation and swelling in your spine that’s causing your chronic pain, other treatments such as physical therapy can be used to strengthen the structures in your spine and prevent further damage from taking place.

Epidural steroid injections can provide immediate and long-lasting pain relief

Before we go ahead with your injection here at The ISPP Center, we’ll run a range of diagnostic tests to ensure that the cause of your pain has been correctly identified, and that this is the best treatment currently available for your needs.

If your leg and back pain is caused by inflammation and swelling, then epidural steroid injections could be just the answer you’ve been looking for to help you manage your condition and reduce your pain levels.

Although an injection into your spine sounds scary, the treatment itself is relatively simple and something we regularly perform here at The ISPP Center. You’ll be asked to lie on your front or side on our comfortable treatment table where you’ll receive a local anesthetic injection to numb the site of your epidural injection. The epidural steroid injection itself is then guided into the correct place using fluoroscopy, a type of x-ray, to ensure the medication reaches where it’s needed most.

There’s minimal downtime needed when you have a cortisone shot

You’ll be able to jump back onto your feet after your epidural injection, as there’s no recovery time required. However, you may notice some warmth and redness around the area of your injection. If you have Diabetes, you should be aware that the steroid used may increase your blood glucose levels and you’ll need to monitor them closely for a few days following your injection.

You should protect the injection area for a day or two as the medication gets to work, and try to avoid any heavy lifting for 24 hours. However, you can get back to your regular activities the day following your injection and enjoy the benefits that reduced inflammation and chronic pain will bring your way.

If you’re considering epidural steroid injections for your chronic back pain and want to find out more, get in touch with The International Spine, Pain & Performance Center today to book your consultation at one of our two convenient locations in the Washington, DC area.