Cervical Epidural Steroid Injections

Neck pain can really slow you down and affect your day-to-day routines. Whether you’ve been in an accident and got a neck injury or suffer from a degenerative condition that’s damaged the discs in your neck, you need relief from that pain. Unchecked, it often leads to even worse referred to upper back pain.

A cervical epidural cortisone shot is aimed at your cervical spine, which encompasses the nerves, bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments in your neck. Once your sports and pain medicine physician diagnoses the source of your discomfort, after he’s sure that you’re a suitable candidate for a cervical epidural cortisone injection, you can get the pain relief in the Midtown Manhattan office.

Reasons for a Cervical Epidural Cortisone Shot

While your neck may appear to be a fragile network of soft tissue and bones, it’s really quite sturdy. It has to be to support your head, which weighs an average of 10 to 11 pounds. And your neck’s in constant motion, even when you’re sleeping. If your work requires you to turn your head frequently or you play a sport that places pressure on your neck, such as football, martial arts, or gymnastics, you may be at a higher risk for developing neck pain.

Certain diseases and other conditions also lead to the need for steroidal cortisone injections shot that block pain. In addition to a sports injury that came from a collision to your head, you may develop neck pain from circumstances such as:

Sleeping wrong. An ineffective pillow that doesn’t properly support your head can lead to chronic neck pain.
Herniated disc. This can happen from an injury as well as from the natural course of aging that wears down the discs between your vertebrae.
Improper posture. Pain radiates from the tendons and ligaments in your neck after years of poor posture. And with the rising popularity of mobile devices, “text neck” is rapidly becoming a reason many young people seek help for neck pain. Holding a phone between your chin and neck is another odd position your neck doesn’t like.
Osteoarthritis. Bone spurs, inflammation and pinched nerves are common side effects of arthritis, all of which cause pain.
Repetitive motion. Sports such as swimming and dancing often require that you repeat the same head moves over and over, leading to neck pain, muscle spasms, and even shoulder pain.
Spinal stenosis. This condition usually is associated with radiating pain to your shoulders, arms and wrists.

Symptoms to Tell Your Doctor

Before you can even think about your cervical epidural steroid cortisone injection shot recovery, your top-rated pain management specialist relies on various tests and an explanation of your symptoms to make a clear diagnosis. Signs that you may need the pain relief of a cervical epidural include:

Stiffness and soreness that hasn’t responded to a couple weeks of rest and immobility
Pain that radiates down your arms
Sharp, shooting pain that strikes whether you’re moving or not
Persistent headaches that seem to radiate from your neck

An x-ray, myelogram, MRI, bone scan, or nerve conduction test helps our pain doctor at the sports injury center properly diagnose your neck pain. You need an accurate diagnosis before your receive a cortisone shot for your back pain.

The Cortisone Injection Shot

Anti-inflammatory medication is the cortisone steroid that’s injected into your neck to relieve pain. In your doctor’s office, you’re positioned lying face down. An area above the site where the cortisone shot will go is anesthetized. Then, a larger needle is inserted into the epidural space by the nerve that’s irritated and causing your discomfort.

During a cervical epidural, your sports injury specialist relies on fluoroscopy, a type of x-ray to help him see exactly where to put the medicine. This guidance aids in preventing cervical epidural side effects. Although rare, cortisone shot side effects consist of:

Headaches
Flushing in your face
Anxiety
An increase in your pain level
Inability to sleep
Increased blood sugar
Warmth at the injection site

Most side effects dissipate within a couple days. Your cervical epidural steroid cortisone shot recovery typically takes two to five days, after which the steroidal pain reliever continues to provide substantial pain relief for months. During your cervical epidural cortisone shot recovery, if you develop loss of feeling in your arms, fever or loss of bowel control, seek emergency care immediately.

Febin Melepura, MD is a top rated, best in class interventional pain management doctor. He is a nationally recognized pain relief specialist and is among the top pain care doctors in New York City and the country. He is an award winning expert and contributor to a prominent media outlets.

Dr. Febin Melepura has been recognized for his thoughtful, thorough, modern approach to treating chronic pain and, among other accolades, has been named a “top pain management doctor in New York”, and one of “America’s Top Doctors™” for an advanced sports injury treatments.