What Is Steroid Injection and How Can It Help?

Chronic pain can adversely lower your quality of life. Fortunately, you can now find effective relief. If you are suffering from pain that does not get better with conventional medical care, a steroid injection might offer the relief you require to engage in physical therapy and regain mobility. Many patients have successfully managed to relieve spinal-related pain using innovative Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injection. Here is an exclusive look at steroid injection and how it can help you.

What Exactly Is Steroid Injection?

This injection is administered to relieve chronic pain caused by various spinal conditions. Steroid injections contain a local anesthetic and corticosteroids. The corticosteroids relieve your pain by reducing inflammation. Some corticosteroids alleviate your pain in one or two days, while others require up to a week to become effective. The pain relief might last for days, months, or years based on the steroid type and your response. If you have mild pain relief from the first steroid injection, you might require several injections to achieve optimal results. The anesthetic contained in the steroid injection offers immediate short-term pain relief.

When Might You Require a Steroid Injection?

Depending on your pain, doctors might recommend an epidural steroid injection or a joint steroid injection. Your provider might administer steroid injections into any joint but a steroid injection. However, a steroid injection is often for hips, knees, and sacroiliac joints where your hip and spine meet. You might need a steroid injection for conditions such as; cancer pain, joint injuries, arthritis, spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, and sciatica. You might also need an epidural steroid injection to relieve pain after spine surgery.

What Should You Expect During a Steroid Injection?

When your doctor recommends a steroid injection, they will start by applying local anesthesia to your skin at your injection site. You will then be placed on a specialized table so they can use fluoroscopic imaging to view the injection site and guide the needle to the appropriate area in your spine or joint. When the needle is precisely in place, your provider injects the medication, and you are good to go.