What is Injection Therapy?
Injections are a nonsurgical treatment option for treating acute or chronic neck and back pain. They are considered to treat spinal pain after other nonsurgical measures, such as medications or physical therapy. Injections can help to provide pain relief and sometimes determine the source of pain.
The most commonly administered injections for neck and back pain are:
- Epidural injections – administered in the epidural space of the spine.
- Facet joint injections – used to treat pain from a specific facet joint.
- Sacroiliac (SI) joint injections – used to treat pain originating from the SI joint, which connects the spine to the pelvis.
- Radiofrequency ablation – used to treat pain by lesioning a medial or lateral branch nerve of the facet or SI joint.
- Selective nerve root block injections – used to target a specific nerve and deposit medication around the nerve.
- Medial branch blocks – used to deposit medication around the medial branches of spinal nerves.
Pain relief from injections can occur within a few hours to a few weeks.