Various types of steroid injections can be used to treat back pain depending on which area is affected. We use an X-ray machine to direct the needle in to the correct place. Some X-ray dye is injected to confirm that the needle is in position. This is followed with the steroid injection and usually some more numbing medicine. The steroid medication usually takes several days to start working and can last up to several months. In general, a patient can receive only three steroid injections to the same place in a year.

Epidural injection: A needle is placed under X-ray guidance into the epidural space. Then steroid medication is injected and the needle removed. This is more of a "shotgun" approach that can treat a general area.

Facet injection: The facets are joints on each side of the spine that can have degenerative changes just like any other joint. Pain in these joints is usually worse in the morning and does not radiate down the legs.

Spinal Nerve Root Block: There are nerves that come out of the spine on the right and on the left at each level in the spine from the neck all the way down to the sacrum. Occasionally, a nerve can get pinched by a disk bulge and/or bones as it comes out of the spine. This usually causes pain in the back and running along the nerve (such as to the flank, hip or down the leg). Steroid medication can be injected around the nerve to help relieve the pain.

Sacroiliac Joint (SI Joint) injection: The sacroiliac joints are at the bottom of the spine to each side. They can degenerate just like any other joint and cause pain. These joints can be injected with steroid medication under X-ray guidance to relieve the pain.