Spinal injections and the different types of injections being used – what you should know

A spinal injection is a procedure performed by a physician, designed to alleviate your pain. When these procedures are performed, its usually done with an x-ray, known as a fluoroscopy, as to assure the doctor knows what spinal structures the needle will be going into. There have been published reports showing that injections that were performed without fluoroscopy that the medication went into the wrong place 25% to 40% of the time!

The purpose of a therapeutic injection is to provide the patient with temporary pain relief.

There are several types of injections, as follows:

Trigger Point and Ligamentous Injections – involve the injection of local anesthetic into soft tissues (muscles) rear localized tender spots in the peravertebral area. The injections can expose patients to serious potential complications.

Facet Joint Injections – Facet joint injections involve the injection of local anesthetics and for corticosteroids into or around Facet joint of the lumbar spine, with needle placement aided by fluoroscopy.

Epidural Steroid Injections – done primarily in patients with suspected radiculopathy (disease of nerve roots). It involves the injection of medication near the site where the nerve roots pass before entering the intervertebral foramen. Epidural injections are invasive and pose rare but serious potential risks. The therapeutic objective is to reduce swelling, inflammation, and pain.

Sacroiliac Joint Injections – This is a large joint between your sacrum and pelvis. Local anesthetic and a steroid can be injected into the joint to help decrease pain.

Hip-Joint Injections – This joint is often affected by arthritis, and an injection may help decrease the pain and improve joint function.

There is research on injections that was published in a medical journal called Spine. (Jan 1, 2009, Volume 34) in which it indicates that spinal injection therapy used for chronic low back pain has questionable outcomes, and that there is insufficient evidence and support the use of injections therapy because there is a lack of research evidence.

Sources: information from U.P.M.C. (A Guide to Spinal Injections – Interventional Pain Management)

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Visit our Main Web site at www.WilkinsSpinalCare.com
Learn how you can eliminate back pain.

Are you ready to eliminate the back pain?

Wilkins Spinal Care is here to help you.

Let us help you get on the road to recovery!
Visit our Main Web site at www.WilkinsSpinalCare.com
Learn how you can eliminate back pain.

Helpful tools from Wilkins Spinal Care

Be sure to check out our main Web site at www.WilkinsSpinalCare.com where you can access helpful tips, interactive pain assessment tools, frequently asked questions, upcoming seminar notices, medical related articles, videos and so much more.

Let us help you get on the road to recovery!
Visit our Main Web site at www.WilkinsSpinalCare.com
Learn how you can eliminate back pain.

FYI: Surgery to the Spine and its Outcomes

Surgery to the spine – what are the outcomes? People ask me this question all the time. The statistics that I use come from the American Journal of Pain Management and the Journal of Musculoskeletal Medicine. It states that the success rate for surgery is 20%. These journals say that surgery to the spine is not safe. As far as whether or not the discs are actually repaired after the surgery, the journals say that the surgery does not heal the disc. If the disc is damaged, when surgery is performed, they deem the damage irreparable. Because of this, there is an 80% chance that the patient will need to have the entire procedure done again.

I am not going to add anything to this question by way of opinion. An article from U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services says that “even having a lot of back pain does not by itself mean you need surgery. Surgery has been found to be helpful in only 1 in every 100 cases of low back problems. In some people, surgery can even cause more problems. This is especially true if your only symptom is back pain.”

Let us help you get on the road to recovery!
Visit our Main Web site at www.WilkinsSpinalCare.com
Learn how you can eliminate back pain.

FYI: Spinal Stenosis – What is it?

Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the vertebral canal, nerve root canals, or intervertebral foramen of the lumbar spine caused by encroachment of bone upon the space. Symptoms are caused by compression of the cauda equine and include pain, parasthesias and neurological claudication. The condition may be either congenital (you were born with it) or due to Spinal degeneration.

The way I explain this to patients is narrowing of the open spaces in the spine. This can cause compression of the nerve roots or spinal cord by bony spurs or soft tissue, such as discs in the spinal canal. This occurs most often in the lumbar spine (in the low back) but also occurs in the cervical spine (in the neck).

Spinal Stenosis occurs mostly in people older than 50. Younger people with a spine injury or a narrow spinal canal are also at risk. Diseases such as arthritis and Scoliosis (curvature of the spine) can cause Spinal Stenosis too. Symptoms might appear gradually or not at all. They include pain in the neck or back, numbness, weakness, or pain in your arms or legs, and foot problems.

Sources: Dorland’s Medical Dictionary

Let us help you get on the road to recovery!
Visit our Main Web site at www.WilkinsSpinalCare.com
Learn how you can eliminate back pain.

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Let Wilkins Spinal Care help you get on the road to recovery.

Visit our Main Web site at www.WilkinsSpinalCare.com

Learn how you can eliminate back pain.

Spinal Injections and the Different Types of Injections Being Used

A spinal injection is a procedure performed by a physician, designed to alleviate your pain. When these procedures are performed, its usually done with an x-ray, known as a fluoroscopy, as to assure the doctor knows what spinal structures the needle will be going into. There have been published reports showing that injections that were performed without fluoroscopy that the medication went into the wrong place 25% to 40% of the time!

The purpose of a therapeutic injection is to provide the patient with temporary pain relief.

Information about sciatica

Sciatica is a syndrome characterized by pain radiating from the back into the butt and into the lower extremity along its posterior or lateral aspect, and most commonly caused by protrusion of a low lumbar intervertebral disc. The term is also used to refer to pain anywhere along the course of the sciatic nerve. (Dorland’s Medical Dictionary)

The way I like to explain it to patients is this. Quite often leg pain or foot pain does not mean that there is a problem with the leg or the foot, but rather that there is a problem in the low back, causing pain and possibly other symptoms to radiate, or be referred to the leg or the foot. This can include muscle weakness. The important thing to understand is that sciatica is a symptom of a problem of something compressing or irritating the nerve roots that comprise the sciatic nerve – rather than a medical diagnosis or medical disorder. This is an important distinction, because it is the underlying diagnosis (versus the symptoms of sciatica) that often needs to be treated in order to relieve sciatic nerve pain.

About discograms

A discogram is a diagnostic test performed prior to a surgical procedure to see which disc is causing the pain and if fusion is required.

The doctor slides a needle through the body (Through the abdomen if the problem is in the lumbar region, while the patient is awake, though usually sedated. A sterile saline solution with a radiologic dye is injected into the disc, and the pain response recorded (a positive finding is the re-creation of the actual pain previously reported by the patient.( Guided fluoroscopic images (meaning x-rays) are made and the damaged disc is shown on film during the procedure.

Discograms are extremely painful and someone needs to drive the patient home afterward. It may cause nerve damage in the disc and it accelerates degeneration of the disc.

Let us help you get on the road to recovery!
Visit our Main Web site at www.WilkinsSpinalCare.com
Learn how you can eliminate back pain.

Chiropractic Care – An Alternative to Medicine

Chiropractic is the care of choice, as the majority of people today look for an alternative to medicine as well as those seeking to live life to their fullest potential.

At Wilkins Spinal Care we utilize the Pierce chiropractic technique coupled with the low force low impact technology of the Thompson drop table. The technique utilizes precise X-ray analysis to determine the area of concern and this allows the doctor to apply a specific force to a specific area while minimizing the force required to make the adjustment. This is comfortable for both the patient and the doctor and makes the adjusting experience less about twisting and popping and more about delivering the right amount of force at the right time to the right region. The newest technology in chiropractic adjustment is also available at Wilkins Spinal Care known as the PULSTAR unit this utilizes NASA technology to provide a specific computerized analysis of the spine as well as a comfortable low impact adjustment.