What Should I Consider Before Spinal Injections
Spinal injections for lower back pain or sciatica are not to be taken lightly and are very rarely a first port of call. However, if you’ve been suffering with back pain or sciatic symptoms for a long period of time without respite the prospect of a steroid injection or nerve block can become appealing. This is more than understandable. The problem lies simply in the understanding of precisely what these spine injections are doing for our back injury.
It’s worth first drawing a line between symptoms and the problem. Granted, debilitating leg pain or paralysing back pain is a problem, there is no doubt about that. It is also essential that we understand clearly that the pain is not the problem. The injury that is present, the tissue damage that has occurred is the problem.
This tissue damage could well be a raging disc herniation, it could be a minor strain of the soft ligamentous tissues or something in between. Often it is not just one thing as the way in which our lower back works, tissues that become injured are invariably related to one another as they function synergistically. For example, if we have a disc herniation, then the ligaments on the back of the spine will also have been damaged and the small inter-segmental muscles in the back as well. Reason being, they’re all connected and rely on one another for normal functioning.
Now we know there is an injury there, what about this spinal injection. Whether it is an epidural injection, corticosteroid injections or a nerve block the specifics of the injections are not necessary to discuss here, that’s for another article. The pivotal point is that they are working to decrease the perception of signals coming from the region, or block them all together.
But what has this done for the injury? Nothing.
There are two fundamental reasons for the injection procedure itself, which we get into in the video above but suffice to say, if you have spinal injections lined up to help you with your back pain or sciatica, get a very clear understanding in your mind that they will only be helpful if you view them in the correct regard.
To provide you with a window of reduced pain within which you can work on making progress with your rehabilitative exercises to strengthen the region of your back and hips, so that when the injection “wears off” you’re body is stronger and more supported and continues to go through a more complete healing process.
If you need help with finding the right rehabilitation that you should be doing before and after spinal injections to help your lower back pain or sciatica, check out the link below.
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