What are spinal injections?
Spinal injections deliver anesthetic and anti-inflammatory medications directly into the spine to relieve chronic pain associated with nerve compression or degenerative damage in the spinal structures.
Dr. Raso offers several types of spinal injections in-office to provide you with quick and long-lasting relief of pain and limited mobility.
What types of spinal injections are available?
Available spine injections include nerve root blocks that deliver anesthetic medications to inflamed or irritated nerves, stopping pain signals from traveling to the brain. This type of treatment is useful for treating chronic pain from spinal nerve damage or pressure from a herniated disc.
Dr. Raso also offers epidural steroid injections that send medications into the epidural space of the spinal canal, the area that houses the spinal nerves. Numbing these nerves prevents nerve signals from traveling through the spinal cord and into the brain and lessening chronic pain from a herniated disc or spinal stenosis.
Facet injections, another common treatment, deal with spine-related pain that develops in the facet joints of the vertebrae. You may benefit from facet injections that deliver anesthetic medicine to joints affected by osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.
Dr. Raso also performs radiofrequency ablation procedures in-office. This treatment involves the insertion of a needle into the spine where your pain originates. Through this needle, Dr. Raso inserts a microelectrode that delivers small currents of radiofrequency energy to heat and destroy nerve tissue. Once the nerve tissue is destroyed, it can no longer generate pain signals.
What can I expect during a spinal injection?
For your comfort, Dr. Raso performs injections in-office. He can prevent pain by applying a topical anesthetic over the injection site.
For many injections, Dr. Raso relies on fluoroscopy technology, real-time X-ray technology, to position the needle in just the right location. This ensures you receive the maximum benefit of the injection.
Immediately after your injection, Dr. Raso evaluates your pain and briefly monitors your overall health before you can go home to rest.
It can take several days for you to experience optimal benefits of treatment, and many people enjoy several weeks or months of pain relief before additional injections are needed. Dr. Raso can recommend the right timeline for follow-up injections based on your condition and the severity of your pain and other symptoms.
Find out if spinal injections are a good treatment option for your chronic pain by calling the office today or booking a consultation with Dr. Raso online now.
