Lower back pain and leg pain can be challenging to treat, especially if you are struggling with nerve damage or irritated nerves. Luckily, epidural steroid injections can relieve your pain, reduce inflammation, and promote healing.
Here at Preva Surgicare - Surgery Center Of The Woodlands in Texas, we offer a range of pain management options including chiropractic techniques, spinal surgery, neurostimulation, and epidural steroid injections. However, if you haven’t yet heard of the benefits of epidural steroid injections before, this article can help you differentiate the myths from the facts.
This is the most common myth we hear at Preva Surgicare. While you may feel like pain injections might be a dramatic solution, they’re actually a type of conservative care because they can prevent the need for invasive surgical procedures.
If you’re struggling with lower back or leg pain, don’t feel you have to wait until the pain is debilitating before you seek treatment. Seeking treatment early can help you avoid surgery in the long run.
While the lower back is the most commonly associated area for epidural steroid injections, it can actually be used to help any pain that is caused by issues with your spine. This includes treating lower leg pain caused by compression in the lower back, as well as neck pain and radiating arm pain as well.
Epidural steroid injections work by soothing your injured and damaged nerves directly at the source. While they’re not considered a cure for most conditions, they can reduce your pain helping you focus on rehabilitation. Pain can disrupt your rehabilitation; the process is much more effective when you feel comfortable enough to participate fully.
In addition to relieving your pain, steroid injections can help by flushing out inflammatory proteins which may cause pain, allowing your natural healing processes to occur more quickly.
In the media, steroids are often associated with athletes and sports. However, steroids are a broad category that refers to man-made versions of chemicals, often hormones, that are naturally found in your body.
While anabolic steroids are sometimes misused by athletes to gain a competitive edge and build muscle, the medicines used in an epidural steroid injection are called corticosteroids and are used to relieve the inflammation and pain on your nerves.
Similarly, some people have heard about weight gain due to using steroid medications. However, weight gain is usually associated with systemic steroids used for diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and is not a common side effect of epidural steroid injections.
During your pain management appointment with Preva Surgicare, our doctors thoroughly explain the possible side effects and risks of epidural steroid injections. When you’re ready for your treatment, our skilled specialists ensure your injection is accurately placed under either local or general anesthesia.
If you’re ready to live with less low back or leg pain, contact our epidural steroid specialists at Preva Surgicare. To find out more, call our offices at 281-377-3706 or request an appointment online today.
