Procedure - Spinal Joint Pain and Injections
When you’re suffering from back or neck pain, you want relief. That relief is available in a minimally-invasive way through spinal injection treatment. Spinal injections at Ogden Clinic are commonly used to localize and treat painful tissues in the cervical, thoracic and lumbosacral spine. Treatment with Ogden Clinic spinal injections and the type of injections differ among individual patients. The spine care team at Ogden Clinic relies on a thorough patient history combined with a physical exam and appropriate imaging studies and diagnostic tests in order to determine if an injection is warranted.
What Can I Expect During a Spinal Injection at Ogden Clinic?
In our northern Utah Spine Care office, doctors frequently perform cervical and lumbar epidurals, facet joint, and sacroiliac joint injections. If we feel you may benefit from an injection, we pinpoint the most appropriate location based on your history and exam. It is important for the medication to target the right area. We do not order a series of injections, rather one at a time with follow-up to then understand how well you respond to treatment.
When spinal injections are being performed, x-ray guidance called “fluoroscopy” is used to ensure that the proper tissue (nerve root, nerve branch, joint, etc.) is being targeted and that the injection is performed safely. This is done to avoid injury or injection into adjacent nerves, blood vessels, and the spinal cord.
Our northern Utah Spine Clinic performs the following joint pain injections:
- Epidural steroid joint injection (to relieve nerve root pain)
- Facet joint injections
- Sacroiliac (SI) joint injections
If you experience significant joint pain and/or that pain is only temporarily relieved, a long-term therapy may be discussed called radiofrequency ablation at Ogden Clinic.
What to Expect After Spinal Injection at Ogden Clinic
The majority of patients do very well and experience significant relief of pain following prescribed spinal injections. Sometimes injections need to be repeated or a different type of injection needs to be performed once your symptoms are better localized and controlled.
Risks of spinal injections may include a very small chance of bleeding, infection or injury to local neurovascular structures in the vicinity of the targeted structures. You should make your physician aware of any anti-inflammatory or blood medications you are taking.
Among the many types of procedures we perform at Utah Spine Care | Ogden Clinic, joint injections are among the least invasive and most effective ways to relieve pain. To learn more about this conservative treatment for neck or back pain, schedule a visit with us online or over the phone.
