What’s an Epidural Steroid Injection and How Can It Help to Provide Pain Relief?

If you suffer from moderate to severe lower back pain or sciatica, there are a variety of treatment options and procedures available to help you find relief. One common, successful, and non-surgical procedure we offer here at The Spine & Sports Health Center to help patients find relief is an epidural steroid injection (ESI).

What's an epidural steroid injection?

For over six decades, pain management and orthopedic doctors have used epidural steroid injections to relieve the pain of pinched nerves in the spine (which are often the result of a herniated disc or spinal stenosis.) The solution itself contains a steroid medication, but in some cases, it also includes a local anesthetic and/or saline to provide instant pain relief and flush the inflammatory agents out of the spine’s epidural space.

What should you expect during this procedure?

If you opt for this 15-30 minute procedure, you will lie down on your stomach, and then the physician will inject you with a local anesthetic to numb your skin. Using fluoroscopy (a real-time form of x-ray), the physician will then place the needle into your epidural space and inject a dye to confirm that the needle is in the correct place. After the physician confirms the location, he will administer the epidural steroid injection. After he withdraws the needle, he will put a small bandage on your back, and you will rest for a few minutes before you leave.

How long will the effects last?

You will feel the full effects after a few days, and the results of the procedure typically last anywhere from a few months to up to a year. However, it may take a series of injections over a few weeks to find the pain relief you need or want.

Although the effects of this procedure are not permanent, there is no doubt that it will deliver substantial pain relief if you experience lower back pain. Furthermore, if you’re taking part in a rehabilitation program, an epidural steroid injection can offer the relief you need to make the most out of your program.

At The Spine & Sports Health Center, we offer epidural steroid injections, Jersey City, and, of course, our new, state-of-the-art office located in Hoboken, NJ. If you’d like to make an appointment to meet with one our board-certified physicians at our Jersey City, NJ office, or another to discuss whether epidural injections are right for you, please contact us at (201) 535-2474, or fill out a contact form here.