The back is the pillar of the body. It helps us to achieve all of our movements, including walking, reaching, lying down and exercising. Due to the fact that the back is always used, there is great opportunity for damage. In fact, the majority of adults will experience low back pain at some point in their lives, with a fraction of those people experiencing chronic low back pain. A safe and effective way to treat low back pain is with a caudal steroid injection. The Texas Pain Care team in the Sugar Land, Missouri City, and Houston areas offers precise diagnoses and effective treatment options, aiming to restore all patients to an active, pain-free lifestyle. Experience effective treatment in Houston, Texas.
Caudal injections are steroid injections that are given in the coccyx, also known as the tailbone or caudal region, to treat chronic lower back pain and chronic pain in the legs. In this space, branches of nerves help to provide sensation and motor activity to the legs and lower back. The injection helps to relieve lower back pain as well as leg pain.
Caudal steroid injections help to treat chronic back and lower extremity pain by using a combination of a steroid and local anesthetic, both of which help to reduce inflammation and relieve pain.
The reason why a caudal steroid injection is performed is because the spinal nerves pass through the epidural space to connect to the legs. If these nerves become inflamed, pain could be felt in the back or lower extremities. Injecting medicine into the epidural space can help to decrease nerve pain.
Most often, pain that stems from the caudal space radiates down through the buttock and into the lower extremities. Most people who experience this type of pain describe it as pins and needles, or a sharp and shooting pain.
If serious back pain has persisted for longer than two weeks, even after trying hot and hold therapy, massage therapy, NSAIDs or physical therapy, it might be ideal to ask your pain management specialist about additional treatment methods that can help to provide long term relief.
A caudal injection helps to treat nerve pain and inflammation. The main causes of nerve pain and inflammation that caudal steroid injections can help treat include:
Failed back syndrome: persistent, dull, and aching pain involving the back or legs not associated with the healing process, even if back surgery is deemed successful.
Herniated discs: one of the most common causes of lower back pain, herniated discs happen when a disc that sits in between each vertebrae in the spine slips out of place, causing irritation to the adjacent nerves.
Degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (DLSS): narrowing of the spinal canal causes nerve impingement, which is most often due to aging and wear-and-tear on the body. Most patients who suffer from spinal stenosis experience difficulty walking, chronic back and leg pain and decreased feeling in the legs, which results in the ability to enjoy a normal amount of physical activity.
Degenerative disc disease: a condition of the discs between vertebrae with loss of cushioning, fragmentation and herniation related to aging.
Sciatica: also known as lumbar radiculopathy, this condition happens when irritation, inflammation, pinching or compression affects one or more nerves that run down the lower back and into the legs.
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The caudal steroid injection procedure is minimally invasive and performed in a doctor’s office, meaning that the patient is able to return home the same day.
The patient will lie face down and could enjoy intravenous sedation if needed. Once the skin area is cleaned and sanitized, the provider will use fluoroscopic guidance to inject dye into the caudal space. Once the precise location is confirmed, the medication, which includes a steroid and anesthetic, is injection, which helps to reduce pain and inflammation.
The procedure itself should take less than 15 minutes. Most patients feel immediate pain relief, but this could wear off after the anesthetic wears off. It’s advisable for patients to rest the day of the procedure. Complete pain relief should be expected around 10 days after injection. During the in-between time, patients can take over-the-counter medications to help with pain relief.
A wonderful benefit of caudal steroid injections is the fact that it can help patients who are suffering from low back and leg pain avoid spinal surgery. While there are minimal risks due to the fact that fluoroscopic guidance is used, and the injection is considered minimally invasive, there are still some risks involved, which include:
Your pain management specialist will review your medical and health history prior to performing any injection, which will help to avoid any allergic reactions to the medication. Risks to the steroid and anesthetic medication include:
Anyone who is living with low back and lower extremity pain can benefit from a caudal steroid injection because it provides quick pain relief. In addition to allowing patients a reduction of pain symptoms, it also allows patients to more comfortably enjoy other treatment methods to rectify the underlying issue of the pain, such as physical therapy.
Caudal Steroid Injections allows patients the ability to enjoy their normal daily activities and provide short term management of chronic lower back pain from any cause.
If you are suffering from lower back or lower extremity pain, there are proven solutions that can help provide you relief. There is no reason to live with back pain for any period of time. To learn more about the caudal steroid injection and to find out if you’re a candidate, please reach out to the Texas Pain Care team in the Sugar Land, Missouri City and Houston areas and schedule an appointment today.
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