If you have symptoms, which doesn’t always happen, they usually start off mild and grow more severe. These symptoms can affect your neck or lower back, depending on whether spinal stenosis occurs in your cervical or upper spine or your lumbar or lower spine.
Common symptoms include:
Spinal stenosis occurs when the space inside your spine becomes narrower, which puts pressure on nerves in the affected area. It can happen if you have a smaller spinal canal or if you develop bones spurs or disc problems, such as a herniated disc, that decrease the amount of room around your spine.
Other causes of spinal stenosis include spinal injuries and thickened ligaments.
The board-certified physicians at Axis Spine and Pain conduct a physical exam and order imaging tests as needed to diagnose this condition.
Conventional treatments for spinal stenosis include pain medications and physical therapy, but these might not provide enough relief from your symptoms.
If you continue to have pain and other symptoms after trying conventional treatments, you might benefit from having epidural injections. The board-certified physicians at Axis Spine and Pain offer these injections for those with spinal stenosis.
These are injections that typically contain a combination of corticosteroids and local anesthesia to relieve pain from spinal stenosis. The corticosteroids in these injections reduce inflammation in the affected part of your spine, which can provide temporary relief.
These injections can damage soft tissue near the targeted area, so it’s only safe to have a certain number per year. You shouldn’t have more than three or four injections per year in the same area.
The board-certified physicians at Axis Spine and Pain let you know if you’re a good candidate for this type of treatment and how often you should come in for injections.
If you have pain that might be due to spinal stenosis, please contact Axis Spine and Pain to set up an appointment.