Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injection
I thought that with the demographics and the active lifestyle I might ask here about this procedure.Seems that there may be a lot of senior members that have or had demanding physical jobs leading to...
Forum Discussion
As a Chiropractor, I order about a dozen ESI'S a year. I could write paragraphs on this, but just to give you ideas.
1) Low back and leg pain have different cases, ESI's work better for some than other low back pain causes
2) literature says about 50% effective, I feel when combined with manipulation more like 75%
3) Doc is going to read the MRI, and make a judgement call on what he thinks the pain generator is and inject at that point. He/she will put you under a fluoroscope, and guide the needle placement to that specific part of your spine
4) If they hit the right spot, relief will be pretty quick. (Called guided image injection) If no relief, that too is of value, because it rules that area out as the pain generator. Remember they are making an educated guess as to what is causing the pain, and sometimes they are wrong. So that will help with 2nd shot placement, and or surgery
5) Many times, it will be enough to calm down the nerve, and the patient may have long term relief
6) I always refer to a neuroradiologist, that is what these folks do every day.
They tend to be better at it that most Orthopedic folks. And same for surgery a neurosurgeon is your best bet
Just to hazard a guess, from your MRI findings, sounds like you may have what's called lateral canal stenosis, super common finding. ESI's do pretty well with that, along with exercise, ergonomics, manipulation combined with it.
If it comes to surgery, you might consider (MISS) minimally invasive spine surgery. Which is more like a rotor rooter job, than full on surgery with sawing away stuff and putting in all the hardware.
Hope it all works out for you
1) Low back and leg pain have different cases, ESI's work better for some than other low back pain causes
2) literature says about 50% effective, I feel when combined with manipulation more like 75%
3) Doc is going to read the MRI, and make a judgement call on what he thinks the pain generator is and inject at that point. He/she will put you under a fluoroscope, and guide the needle placement to that specific part of your spine
4) If they hit the right spot, relief will be pretty quick. (Called guided image injection) If no relief, that too is of value, because it rules that area out as the pain generator. Remember they are making an educated guess as to what is causing the pain, and sometimes they are wrong. So that will help with 2nd shot placement, and or surgery
5) Many times, it will be enough to calm down the nerve, and the patient may have long term relief
6) I always refer to a neuroradiologist, that is what these folks do every day.
They tend to be better at it that most Orthopedic folks. And same for surgery a neurosurgeon is your best bet
Just to hazard a guess, from your MRI findings, sounds like you may have what's called lateral canal stenosis, super common finding. ESI's do pretty well with that, along with exercise, ergonomics, manipulation combined with it.
If it comes to surgery, you might consider (MISS) minimally invasive spine surgery. Which is more like a rotor rooter job, than full on surgery with sawing away stuff and putting in all the hardware.
Hope it all works out for you
