What is a Caudal Epidural Steroid Injection?

Everything You Need To Know About Caudal Epidural Steroid Injection

To connect to your legs, spinal nerves run via the epidural space. Inflammation of those spinal nerves could result in back or pain injury.

Caudal Epidural Steroid Injection is one of the most common and effective ways to treat that. This is an outpatient procedure where the doctor gives you a shot of steroid medication on your lower back to reduce the inflammation and eliminate any pain.

Some of the things that could result in the inflammation and pain in the spinal nerves include;

• Herniated disks
• Radiculopathy or sciatica
• Spine canal stenosis
• Degenerative disk disease
• Postlaminectomy syndrome or failed back syndrome

What To Expect Before A Caudal Epidural Steroid Injection

Before the injection, your doctor will ask about your health history and your medication list. You should be 100 percent transparent with your doctor because some medications you take could thin your blood, increasing the risks of bleeding during the injection.

If you take any blood thinners, the doctor will advise you to stop taking them a few days before you go for your injection. Although it is an outpatient procedure, you should not drive within 24 hours after getting the injection. Therefore, you have to plan for transportation back home.

What To Expect During The Procedure

This is a fast procedure that only lasts around 15-30 minutes. For the injection, your doctor will have you lying on an X-ray table face-down. For increased comfort, the doctor may add a pillow under your stomach.

To ensure you don’t feel any pain, the doctor uses topical anesthesia on your lower back. The doctor then injects dye into your epidural space, and using the X-ray, they can see where the medication should go. Finally, the doctor injects the steroid medication.

What To Expect After The Injection

Caudal steroid injection is an effective way to manage pain and increase your productivity without undergoing surgery.

After the injection, you should avoid any strenuous activities for the first 24 hours. You might experience soreness around the injection site. While you may not see the results immediately, you will start having relief from your pain after two or three days.

However, if your pain is severe, it might take longer (about ten days). Caudal steroid injection is safe, but you may experience some mild side effects like headache and bleeding, redness, and infection around the injection site.

Some patients get significant pain relief after getting only one shot of the medicine. However, if your pain is severe, you may need two or more injections. The doctor will administer those injections at a two to four-week interval.

If you do not get permanent pain relief from the shots of medication, your doctor will come up with the best and most effective way to include the medication in your pain management plan.

For the best and safest injection results, you need to find the best and most qualified doctor to administer it. If you want to get your Caudal Epidural Steroid Injection in Richardson, tx, Plano Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center is the place to visit.

The facility is full-service, and they have a team of some of the best specialists around. All their employees are bard-certified and specialize in different body parts like knees, back, spine, neck, feet, shoulders, joint replacement, hands, and wrists.

Call POSMC today!

To schedule an appointment with one our specialists, contact our scheduling department at 972-250-5700 or request an appointment online.

POSMC is a full-service medical facility specializing in the evaluation and treatment of orthopedic injuries. The practice is led by a group of 12 board-certified and fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeons and a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician. Contact us today!