Types of Injections That Soothe Pain From Lumbar Spinal Stenosis

Degenerative changes in your spine have caught up with you, and you're dealing with some considerable discomfort thanks to lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). In fact, standing up straight or walking long distances have become more difficult thanks to this condition. And you just want your old life back — the one in which you could move without the fear of pain.

We hear you loud and clear. The team of spine health experts here at Advanced Spine Care and Pain Management offers several solutions for spinal stenosis, and interventional injections are our go-to frontline tool.

Here’s a look at the three types of injections we offer for lumbar spinal stenosis.

First, a word about lumbar spinal stenosis

To fully understand how these injections work, it’s helpful to review what we’re trying to address when it comes to your LSS, which is predicted to affect about 18 million people by 2032. 

This condition occurs when degenerative changes in your lumbar spine (low back) cause your spinal canal to narrow. As a result, nearby nerve roots and nerve fibers can become compressed or pinched, which can lead to:

• Pain in your lower back, especially in certain positions such as standing upright
• Pain that shoots down into your buttocks
• Pain, numbness, and tingling in your legs

There’s not much we can do to address the degenerative changes in your lumbar spine without resorting to invasive surgery, but there are ways we can manage the symptoms and make you more comfortable.

Soothing LSS pain with injections

We mentioned that there are three types of injections that we turn to for lumbar spinal stenosis, but these injections are only differentiated by location.

Each of the injections we review below contain both a local anesthetic and a steroid. While the anesthetic is designed to provide you with near-immediate relief, the steroid tackles the inflammation that’s pinching your nerve. This powerful combination quiets the affected nerve fibers and gives them more space.

Now let’s take a look at where we can administer these three injections:

1. Epidural steroid injections

The epidural space in your spine is located within the spinal canal, just outside the dura mater, and contains spinal nerve roots. We target the part of this space where we believe the nerves are overactive.

2. Nerve blocks

If we have a good idea which of the five pairs of lumbar nerve roots are involved in your LSS, we target the specific nerve with a block.

3. Facet joint injections

Each of the vertebrae in your lumbar spine feature two facet joints. If the degenerative changes that are leading to stenosis are in these areas, we can target the facet joints with our anesthetic and steroid combination.

Whichever injection we recommend, they should provide you with a much-needed respite from your LSS pain.

To figure out which injection is best for your LSS, we invite you to contact us at one of our offices in Staten Island or Hartsdale, New York, to schedule an appointment.