Epidural Steroid Injection in Houston
A variety of spinal problems can pinch the nerve tissues that serve your arms and legs. When this happens, you may experience excruciating pain in your back or extremities. Fortunately, you can obtain sustained relief from this debilitating pain by coming to NW Surgery and receiving an epidural steroid injection in Houston.
What Is an Epidural Steroid Injection?
An epidural spinal injection is a medical technique for relieving pain, inflammation, and nerve impingement when more conservative measures such as physical therapy or oral medications don’t seem to help. A powerful anti-inflammatory steroid drug is injected into the epidural space. This zone, located between the vertebral wall and the membrane surrounding the spinal cord, contains a combination of blood vessels, fat, lymphatic fluid, and major nerve roots branching out from the spinal cord itself.
Doctors can administer a lumbar epidural steroid injection in a few different ways. The primary approaches include transforaminal, interlaminar, and caudal injections. In a transforaminal injection, the doctor inserts the needle directly into the epidural space. In an interlaminar injection, the steroid enters through the rear of the spinal column and then migrates to the epidural space. In a caudal injection, the doctor injects the steroid upward into the tailbone area.
Precision counts for much when administering epidural steroid injections. Your doctor will inject your epidural space with a dye to make the spinal structures stand out clearly. The doctor will then use X-ray imaging to guide the needle to the most effective target in the epidural space.
Following your injection, expect the steroid to take up to a week before your pain and other symptoms subside. You may find that the injection eases your pain for many months at a time before you need to consider another treatment. Most patients can safely receive up to three injections per year.
Conditions Treated by Epidural Steroid Injections
Epidural steroid injections can ease nerve pain caused by a number of spinal conditions. Examples include:
Degenerative disc disease – Aging vertebral discs can lose their height as they lose internal support. This causes them to bulge and flatten out, potentially placing stress on nearby nerve roots.- Herniated disc – This condition occurs when part of a vertebral disc’s outer casing bulges outward and ruptures. The escaping fluid can cause acute nerve inflammation.
- Spinal stenosis – Bone growth within the spinal column can reduce its internal diameter, putting pressure on the spinal cord and its major nerve roots. This condition is known as spinal stenosis.
- Spondylolisthesis – In spondylolisthesis, one vertebra slips forward relative to the position of the vertebrae directly beneath it. This alignment problem can pinch spinal nerve tissue.
- Sciatica – This nerve syndrome can occur whenever the sciatic nerve or nerve branches experience impingement. The main symptoms include pain running down the back of the leg, tingling or numbness in the leg or foot, and leg weakness.
Benefits of Epidural Steroid Injections
Epidural steroid injections offer some valuable benefits in the battle against spine-related nerve pain. For one thing, they can help you put off (or even completely avoid) a major corrective surgery such as a laminectomy, discectomy, or spinal fusion. The pain relief may allow you to pursue physical therapy, allowing you to strengthen your back and improve your pain-free range of motion. At the same time, the injected steroid can give your body a break from large doses of other anti-inflammatory and analgesic medications.
Let NW Surgery Help You
NW Surgery can serve as your trusted source for epidural steroid injection treatment in Houston. As Houston’s premier and most respected physician-owned surgical center, our skilled team offers decades of collective experience in advanced pain relief techniques. We provide competitive pricing for individuals without health insurance while also accepting a variety of insurance plans and providers.
The NW Surgery team can evaluate your condition, determine whether you make a good candidate for the procedure, explain the procedure in detail, and let you know what to expect after a lumbar epidural steroid injection in Houston. We’ll then connect you with the ideal pain management doctor for your procedure.
Get the Non-Surgical Pain Relief You Need
Don’t let inflamed, swollen nerve tissue make your life miserable or send you directly into major surgery when non-surgical relief is at hand. Contact NW Surgery today to find out whether you can benefit from an epidural steroid injection in Houston.
