Severe lower back or leg pain can be absolutely debilitating, often leading to some sufferers barely even being able to get out of the bed in the morning. Other times, it could be that the back pain is such that you can’t lie down properly and are forced to spend every night trying to sleep in your chair or recliner. Either way, it’s important that you consult with a pain management doctor in Orlando to find a way to help reduce your pain so that you can finally get back on the path to living a full, happy and healthy life. One solution may be found with Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injections. Read beow to learn more.
For pain caused by an injury to the spinal cord, one of the most common and potentially most effective methods for managing it is through the use of epidural steroid injections. By injecting these powerful anti-inflammatory medications into or above the sight of the injury, a pain management doctor can help ensure that the swelling goes down and thus reduces the pressure put on the nerve root within the spinal cord.
Since this pressure is generally the root cause of sciatica and other common lower back pain problems, the ability to reduce swelling makes epidurals one of the most innovative pain solutions available to you. However, as with any other surgical or non-surgical medical procedure, it’s still important that you consider the overall effectiveness and potential side effects before undergoing the treatment.
Can Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injections Really Help Manage My Pain?
Generally speaking, only your doctor will be able to determine whether or not an epidural injection will help in your case. Nonetheless, should you suffer from sciatica or have suffered any sort of traumatic injury to your lumbar area, such as a herniated disc, there’s a decent chance that the steroid will provide at least some relief.
In fact, although you probably don’t think so due to the huge pain you’re suffering, you’re actually quite lucky that your injury occurred in the lumbar area instead of in the higher sections of your spine. This is because epidural injections are generally much more successful at treating these lower injuries than they are the higher ones, even if they’re still commonly used on anywhere from the tailbone to the neck.
Are There Any Potential Side Effects?
Although you may have a range of innovative pain solutions available to you, virtually none of them are without risk. This is especially true of trying to manage the problem with habit-forming opiates and other pain medications. Luckily, Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injections don’t come with the risk for that many serious side effects, although they can be extremely painful.
There is a minute risk of bleeding, infection and nerve damage, but these are extremely rare. In most cases, the worst a patient will experience is minor headaches, feeling flushed or perhaps anxiety and sleeplessness. However, some patients may experience an increase in pain around the site of the injury for at least some time after the shot, but this tends to go away with time.
Talk To Our Pain Management Doctor
The exact results differ from patient to patient, but in many cases, Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injections are able to provide at least some relief from the pain for anywhere from a few weeks to a year or more. For this reason, you should definitely consider talking to your pain management doctor in Orlando to see whether or not the injections are an option for you, as there’s a high chance they could put you on the road to recovery. Give Innovative Pain Solutions a call today to schedule your appointment.
