Comparing Pain Management Techniques: Epidural, Nerve Block, and Facet Injection

Houston Pain Specialists Blog Comparing Pain Management Techniques: Epidural, Nerve Block, and Facet Injection
Comparing Pain Management Techniques: Epidural, Nerve Block, and Facet Injection

At some point, more than 1 in 5 adults in the United States lives with chronic pain, which lasts for several months or longer. When conservative treatments fail to suffice, epidural injections and nerve blocks may be your best bet.

Our expert team at Houston Pain Specialists, led by board-certified pain management specialist Hui Kang, MD, provides injections, including epidurals, facet nerve blocks, and medial nerve blocks, to ease your pain and restore your quality of life.

Here’s a closer look at these minimally invasive options, including how they work and conditions they help treat.

How epidural injections work

Epidurals inject a solution containing a numbing agent, such as lidocaine, and the steroid cortisone into the space surrounding your spinal cord. Each shot brings some amount of immediate relief, thanks to the anesthetic. 

Within a week, the cortisone gradually reduces inflammation linked with chronic pain. 

Conditions for which epidural injections treat pain include:

While some people need only one epidural, others benefit from two or more. One injection may relieve your pain for weeks, months and sometimes years before any subsequent injections.

How nerve blocks work

Medial branch nerve blocks reduce pain by stopping particular nerves outside of a joint from sending pain signals. As a result, you won’t perceive the pain as severely, if at all. 

We place facet nerve blocks inside a problematic joint for less pain and inflammation. Both types of injections may contain a steroid and an anesthetic.

Nerve blocks can help treat:

A nerve block can also help us diagnose the cause of your pain or determine your next ideal treatment. We provide nerve blocks before rhizotomy and radiofrequency ablation procedures, for example, which we find alleviates chronic pain for about six months on average or longer. 

The nerve block must successfully reduce your pain before you move on to either treatment.

Reasons to consider injections for pain

We may recommend an epidural or nerve block injection if your pain has lingered for months, regardless of treatments like rest, ice or heat packs, and over-the-counter pain medication. Severe pain may make you a prime candidate for a pain-relieving injection, too.

An epidural or nerve block may negate the need for oral pain medication or allow you to lower your dose, with your doctor’s approval. The right injectable treatment may even help you avoid or delay surgery.

To get personalized pain management support or learn if injections are right for you, contact our Houston, Texas, office today to schedule an appointment.

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