An epidural steroid injection treatment is fast and simple. A local anesthesia numbs the region before the injection is given, which takes just a matter of minutes to do. The doctor will inject a small amount of medicine into the affected area of the spine. Recovery time is also very short. If you feel slight temporary discomfort at first, there’s no need to worry. This is perfectly typical, and something that most patients describe as a sensation of slight pressure.

If you have any back surgeries in your history, an MRI will also be performed before the procedure. After the epidural steroid injection, you should be able to move about in a perfectly normal way. No later than the next day, you should to be to able function with complete normality. Any temporary soreness you may feel at the point of the injection may be resolved by using an over-the-counter pain reliever or an ice pack.

How long will pain relief last after an epidural steroid injection?

Pain relief after an epidural steroid injection treatment may last for days or even years, depending on each patient. Many people will require just one epidural steroid injection, while others may require one or two more.

Epidural steroid injection therapy is a powerful tool in providing relief from sciatica and other radicular pain conditions, allowing patients to experience a higher quality of life. But medication isn’t the only way we help you fight pain.

• In the area of the neck.
• Radiation down one or both arms.
• The lower back area.
• Radiation down one or both legs.

An epidural steroid injection is most effective for a variety of radicular pain. This is pain resulting from the irritation of a nerve root, or a nerve root that has become compressed. It’s called radicular because the pain feels as though it is “radiating“ along one or both of the patients’ arms, legs or into the neck.

An epidural steroid injection is often helpful to those who suffer from sciatica, who are very familiar with the debilitating pain that radiates into one or both of the legs. This injection helps decrease inflammation of the affected nerve roots. Patients with herniated disc or spinal stenosis, which is the narrowing of the spinal canal, also benefit from epidural steroid injection treatments.