Epidural Steroid Injections

Live Procedure – Epidural Steroid Injection

by Nicole Berardoni M.D, Paul Lynch M.D, and Tory McJunkin M.D

Epidural steroid injections (ESIs) are a frequently used treatment for chronic pain syndromes. A common characteristic among the syndromes treated with ESIs is a pain described as “radicular pain “. The word radicular means root and typically refers to an irritated nerve root “Radiculitis” or weakness associated with an affected nerve root “Radiculopathy.”

Radicular pain is pain that radiates from the spine down an irritated spinal nerve root. Irritation of a spinal nerve in the low back, called lumbar radiculopathy, causes pain that typically travels down a leg. Cervical radiculopathy describes pain that travels down an arm. Epidural injections are also used to treat nerve compression in the neck (cervical spine), and well as the low back (lumbar spine).

Conditions commonly treated with ESI:

Degenerative Disc Disease (Botwin 2007)
Spinal Stenosis
Herniated Discs (Lin 2006)
Spondylysis
Sciatica
Radiculitis
Radiculopathy

A study done at the Florida Spine Institute in 2007 confirmed that Epidural Steroid Injections help reduce bilateral radicular pain and improve standing and walking in patients with Degenerative Lumber Spinal Stenosis (Botwin 2007).