Types of Neck Injections

The goal of the epidural steroid injection is to help lessen the inflammation of the nerve root. The epidural space is located above the outer layer surrounding the spinal cord and nerve roots. An epidural steroid injection goes into the epidural space, directly over the compressed nerve root.

Facet joint injections usually have two goals: to help diagnose the cause and location of pain and also to provide pain relief: Diagnostic goals: By placing numbing medicine into the facet joint, the amount of immediate pain relief experienced by the patient will help determine if the facet joint is a source of pain.

A facet rhizotomy injection is a procedure that attempts to relieve neck or back pain associated with facet disease, or spinal arthritis, by using an electrical current to destroy local nerve fibers carrying pain signals from the affected joint to the brain.

The sacroiliac joint is the largest joint in the spine. Research shows that the sacroiliac pain is very often confused with back pain from the spine. When is the Sacroiliac Joint Block required? The SI joint block is performed to relieve pain caused by arthritis in the sacroiliac joint, where the spine and hipbone meet.

Another common injection, a selective nerve root block (SNRB), is primarily used to diagnose the specific source of nerve root pain and, secondarily, for therapeutic relief of low back pain and/or leg pain (see Figure 1). When a nerve root becomes compressed and inflamed, it can produce back and/or leg pain.