Epidural Steroid Injection
Chronic back pain and sciatica can be debilitating. You can experience so much pain and discomfort that your quality of life is diminished. Many people find it challenging to manage their pain, go to work, and spend time with their loved ones.
When seeking effective treatment options to reduce your pain and discomfort, you may encounter epidural steroid injections (ESI). ESIs are commonly used by healthcare professionals to treat a range of conditions, including herniated disks, spinal stenosis, sciatica, degenerative disk disease, and spondylolisthesis.
If you’re not yet convinced that ESI is a worthwhile treatment option for your sciatica or back pain, keep reading to see how it can help:
Reduces Inflammation
Inflammation of nerve roots is a common cause of back pain and sciatica, often due to compression from a herniated disk or spinal stenosis. When your nerve roots are inflamed, they can cause numbness, pain, and tingling.
These symptoms can be frustrating, but ESI can reduce that inflammation. The corticosteroid part of the injection works as an anti-inflammatory agent. As it can reduce nerve tissue irritation, you may feel less pain.
Interrupts the Pain and Spasm Cycle
As someone living with chronic pain or sciatica, you’ll likely be familiar with the pain and spasm cycle. When you feel pain, you often then experience muscle guarding. Muscle guarding is a subconscious protective mechanism in which the muscles surrounding a painful area contract to prevent further damage and limit movement. Muscle guarding puts more pressure on your spinal structures, which in turn leads to increased pain. It’s a vicious cycle for sufferers.
Fortunately, epidural steroid injections can interrupt this cycle. The injection can help reduce nerve irritation, thereby alleviating both the initial pain and the secondary muscle tension.
Improves Physical Function
Chronic pain and sciatica can stop you from doing the things you love. It’s only natural that you’ll spend more time sedentary and less time being active. However, reduced activity can have its own set of consequences, like muscle atrophy and joint stiffness. There can even be mental health effects like depression.
ESI can be a game-changer for improving physical function and overall quality of life. When you’re able to move more freely, you can actively participate in rehabilitative therapies like physical therapy and core strengthening.
Provide Diagnostic Information
Getting to the root cause of back pain isn’t always easy. Imaging, such as an MRI, can reveal multiple areas of disk disease or degeneration, making it challenging to determine the specific area that is actually causing the pain.
As epidural steroid injections target a specific part of the spine, they can function as a diagnostic tool. For example, if a patient is injected at L4-L5 and experiences significant relief, it can confirm that this is the source of the pain. This information can be invaluable for further or future treatment options, such as surgery.
Prevent or Delay Surgery
Surgery isn’t always avoidable for chronic back pain. However, patients living with inflammation or moderate disk disease may be able to choose ESI in favor of surgery. ESI can provide lasting symptom relief, especially in conjunction with other treatments, including:
- Weight loss
- Lifestyle changes
- Physical therapy
- Anti-inflammatory medication
Inquire About Epidural Steroid Injections at Eclipse Pain and Recovery in Waxahachie, Texas
You deserve to be free of the pain and discomfort that’s preventing you from living life to the fullest. If you’re experiencing sciatica or chronic back pain, contact the expert team at Eclipse Pain and Recovery for epidural steroid injections. We’re here to learn more about your condition and provide effective solutions to improve your quality of life.