Spinal injections for back pain

All over the country, doctors have set up pain clinics offering to give injections to anyone and everyone with pain. Treatment of back pain is a lucrative business and many physicians have exploited this aspect of medicine.

Many people with back pain remain disabled and have a very poor quality of life. There are many individuals with back pain who have gone through the entire gamut of surgery, physical therapy, acupuncture, massage and so on and nothing has worked. For these individuals, the only other treatment is to get pain relief. One of the ways to relieve pain is with injections. The injections are made in the spine with steroids. Anesthesiologists, orthopedic surgeons, rheumatologists, and many other physicians have set up clinics to provide pain relief to the individuals suffering from back pain.

For the consumer, it has to be understood that epidural injections are not the first treatment of choice. One has to try oral pain pills before jumping the gun.

Do epidural injections relieve back pain?

Well, not everyone finds relief from epidural injections and the pain relief is not immediate. Less than 10-20 percent of people with back pain have any significant pain relief. The pain relief is never complete and not permanent. The pain relief is noticed at around 3-4 weeks and lasts for a few months only. Most individuals can only have 2-3 injections of steroids per year. Repeated uses of steroids can lead to bone softening, ulcers and weight gain.

Prior to the epidural injections, one has to have an MRI or CT scan of the back. These radiological studies help identify location of the problem. However, most physicians who perform epidural injections generally go ahead and inject irrespective of the findings.