Pain Management

Diagnostic injections and pain management procedures are ordered for diagnosis and/or therapeutic treatment of pain in all areas of the spine (lumbar, thoracic and cervical), as well as joints (shoulder, hip, wrist, etc.) Your doctor may also request that you receive a CT exam in conjunction with these procedures.

At LRA, our physicians specialize in diagnostic injections and pain management procedures. Our radiologists also have advanced training in specific areas, including neuro and musculoskeletal imaging. This special focus, combined with our image-guided approach, ensures that your diagnostic and/or therapeutic injection is accurate and safe.
 
Epidural steroid injections provide diagnostic data and pain relief by delivering local anesthetic (numbing medication) and anti-inflammatory steroid medications into the spinal area on the surface of the spinal column. This procedure may reduce inflammation, resulting in long-term pain relief, and can provide valuable information on the source of your pain.
 
Nerve root block is an injection into the sheath surrounding a nerve root in the spine to decrease your pain temporarily and to define it more precisely. The exam uses therapeutic steroid and local anesthetic (numbing medication) to decrease pain and inflammation. Pain relief from the procedure varies from minimal to long-term, depending on the specific symptoms.

You must have symptoms present for this procedure to be effective. If you are not experiencing symptoms prior to your procedure, please cancel your appointment and reschedule the exam once your symptoms have returned.
 

Sacroiliac joint injection places local anesthetic (pain-relieving medication) in the sacroiliac joint, which is the region of your low back and buttocks where your pelvis joins the spine. Once the sacroiliac joints become painful, they may cause pain in the low back, buttocks, abdomen, groin, or legs. The amount of immediate relief experienced during the injection will help confirm or deny the joint as a source of pain. The cortisone (steroid) will help to reduce any inflammation that may exist within the joint(s).
Facet nerve injections are diagnostic procedures that identify the source of irritation in the nerves that run along the outer edge of the facet joints within the spine. If multiple levels of pain exist within the facets, several injections may be required on different days to pinpoint the pain source in each location.

By anesthetizing these nerves, the physician can determine whether the nerve irritation should be treated with medication or by radiofrequency (RF) rhizotomy. Pain relief varies for each patient ranging from short-term to long-term relief.