Sciatica can ruin your quality of life. When the sciatic nerve becomes compressed by neighboring tissues due to age-related spinal degeneration, an injury, or soft tissue inflammation. Fortunately, many sufferers obtain sciatica pain relief from epidural steroid injections. Let’s examine this treatment option so you can see whether Houston epidural steroid injections for sciatica make sense for your situation.
Understanding Sciatica and Its Symptoms
The sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower spinal column through the leg, relays all the sensory and motor information to/from your leg and foot. If the sciatic nerve tissue gets pinched or damaged, you can experience:
- Shooting or aching pains running down your leg.
- Numbness and/or tingling in your buttock, leg, or foot.
- Muscle weakness or loss of muscle control that interferes with normal leg or foot function.
Sciatica can cause aggravating discomfort that either attacks in bouts or lingers constantly. This discomfort distracts you from everyday tasks, affects your sleep, and generally makes you miserable. More critically, loss of muscle control in your lower extremities can hinder your mobility and increase your risk for dangerous falls.
How Epidural Steroid Injections Work
Epidural injections aim to get nerve pain and inflammation under control without major surgery or potentially addictive opioid drugs. Doctors inject steroid medication into a narrow area around the spinal cord called the epidural space. The steroids prevent vertebral discs from producing inflammatory compounds, reduce inflammatory pain mediators, and block pain signals from nearby nerves.
Epidural steroids use the same anti-inflammatory mechanisms as oral steroids. However, the injection of these steroids directly into the epidural space can produce much more focused and powerful results, with a single injection potentially providing months of relief. Epidural steroids can also succeed where other anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs fail. In many cases, they serve as the conservative alternative to a more invasive, painful, and risky spinal surgery.
Identifying Suitable Candidates for Epidural Steroid Injections
How can you tell whether you make a good candidate for epidural injections? First, you must consult a skilled, experienced healthcare professional who specializes in this form of orthopedic pain management. This specialist will perform a thorough exam, from discussions of your symptoms to X-rays or imaging of your spine, to confirm your sciatica and pinpoint the nerve compression.
Good candidates for epidural injections have experienced severe, longstanding symptoms related to nerve or soft tissue inflammation, with no relief from milder forms of medication. If you can get relief from from-the-counter drugs, for instance, you don’t need these injections. On the other end of the scale, sciatica caused by a serious structural problem might call for surgery instead of drug therapy. Allergies, bleeding disorders, and active infections may disqualify you from the procedure.
Conditions That May Benefit from Epidural Steroid Injections
By reducing pain signals and any swelling that may compress your sciatic nerve, epidural injections can relieve both sciatica in the lower back and cervical radiculopathy, an equivalent condition in the neck that can affect your arms and hands. It can prove highly effective against symptoms caused by:
- Herniated or bulging discs.
- Spinal stenosis, or narrowing of the spinal canal.
- Facet joint cysts.
- Degenerative disc disease.
- Spondylolisthesis.
Epidural injections can successfully treat both constant and recurring sciatica.
Potential Benefits and Expected Outcomes
You may experience inflammation reduction and pain relief within a few days of your injection, although chronic symptoms may benefit from repeat injections every three to six months. You should also enjoy a wider range of pain-free motion and greater control over your legs and feet. This important improvement can allow you to engage more fully in physical therapy and other rehabilitative treatments.
Addressing Safety Concerns
Epidural injections have a generally good safety profile, but like most medical procedures, they can carry certain risks. Potential side effects may include water retention, anxiety, menstrual issues, and sleep disruption. Some people may also experience skin flushing. The choice of a skilled, experienced medical specialist can help you avoid more serious side effects such as nerve damage or infection.
Learn More About Epidural Injection Benefits
If you qualify as a good candidate for epidural steroid injections for sciatica, this treatment technique can play a major role in an integrated, holistic pain management plan to help you regain your quality of life. Schedule an appointment with an orthopedic specialist to learn more.
