Epidural steroid injection.
Deliver the medicine where the nerve is angry.
Image-guided injection of corticosteroid into the epidural space — a high-precision way to quiet inflamed spinal nerve roots that are radiating pain into an arm or leg.
A targeted anti-inflammatory delivered to the source.
An epidural steroid injection (ESI) deposits a small dose of long-acting corticosteroid, often combined with a local anesthetic, directly into the epidural space surrounding the spinal nerves. When a disc herniation, foraminal narrowing, or arthritic spur is compressing a nerve root, the inflammation around that nerve is what drives most of the pain. ESI shuts down that inflammatory cycle so the nerve can recover. We perform ESIs in the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and caudal regions, and we choose interlaminar, transforaminal, or caudal approach based on the diagnosis — not by habit.
Fluoroscopic guidance, every time.
You lie prone on the procedure table. The skin is sterilized and numbed with local anesthetic. Using live fluoroscopic X-ray, we advance a thin spinal needle to the exact level of the affected nerve root. Contrast dye confirms the medication will reach the target before we inject. The injection itself takes under a minute. The whole appointment runs forty to sixty minutes including check-in and observation. No general anesthesia is required — most patients drive themselves home unless sedation is requested.
Best for radicular pain with a clear nerve-root pattern.
ESI is most effective when the pain has a clear dermatomal pattern — burning, sharp, or electric pain that radiates down a specific arm or leg in a recognizable nerve distribution. Common indications include lumbar or cervical radiculopathy, herniated disc with sciatica, foraminal stenosis, and acute flares of degenerative disc disease. It is less effective for purely axial back or neck pain — in those cases we look at facet joints, the SI joint, or the disc itself.
Most patients feel changes within three to seven days.
Relief is not instant. Cortisone takes several days to take full effect; many patients describe a gradual quieting of the nerve over the first week. The injection itself is well tolerated. Light activity is fine the same day. We avoid heavy lifting and strenuous exercise for forty-eight hours. We track outcomes at one, four, and twelve weeks. If a single injection produces durable relief, we stop. If a partial response occurs, a second injection is reasonable. If two injections fail to help, we change strategy rather than chase the same intervention a third time.
Stop accepting the downtime.
A precise diagnosis is the start of every recovery. Schedule a consultation at any Triumph location.