Spine injection therapy

Injection therapy at Doctor reuter medical centers

• Facet joint injections

Facet joint injections are a common tool for identifying and treating the source of back pain. Though they may not provide long-term pain relief, they are used to determine the underlying cause of back discomfort. These injections alleviate pain by aiming at filling the facet joint with an anesthetic medication, numbing the joint itself, the surrounding ligaments, and the joint capsule. Most commonly, cortisone is added to the local anesthetic. If the injected facet joint results in pain relief for several hours, it strongly indicates that the joint is the source of discomfort. If this effect can be observed, there is a good chance that the added cortisone can lead to a longer-lasting effect because of the reduced inflammation.

• Trigger point injections

Trigger point injections, using a local anesthetic, aim at effectively reducing the pain associated with trigger points (muscle knots). The local anesthetic effectively reduces pain by numbing the area, which hopefully leads to a loosening of the tense muscles.

• Epidural injections (in case of herniated discs)

Epidural injections consist of a mild anesthetic and a steroid medication. Administered directly into the affected spinal joint, the anesthetic alleviates pain, while the steroid relieves sustained pain and reduces chronic inflammation. An epidural injection proves particularly beneficial in cases where degenerative disc disease leads to a herniated disc.

• Nerve root block (in case of herniated discs)

A nerve root block is a spinal injection that delivers an anesthetic directly into a specific nerve root of the spine, identifying the precise source of pain. It also includes a steroid to reduce inflammation and pain. The objective of a selective nerve root block is to target and provide relief to the problematic nerve root.