Epidural steroid injections provide diagnostic data and pain relief by delivering local anesthetic (numbing medication) and anti-inflammatory steroid medications into the spinal area on the surface of the spinal column. This procedure may reduce inflammation, resulting in long-term pain relief, and it can provide valuable information on the source of your pain.
Procedure Preparation
There is very little preparation needed for this procedure. In fact, you may decide to go-ahead with this procedure during your initial consultation at our Midtown Manhattan outpatient clinic. The procedure will be fully explained to you before you decide to proceed.
Please bring any previous imaging study results (MRI, CT, x-rays) such as films, reports, or CD-ROMs to your initial appointment. If you do not have current images, we may refer you to have them done prior to the procedure.
If you come by car, you will need a driver to take you home after your appointment. You will be able to go home unaccompanied via subway or taxi.
Please notify our physician if you are nursing or if there is a chance you may be pregnant.
Please be prepared to discuss any medications that you are currently on with our physician, or bring your medication bottles with you to your appointment.
During the Procedure
Using a thin needle and x-ray-guidance (fluoroscopy), a physician will inject contrast (x-ray dye) into or adjacent to the epidural space thought to be causing your pain. This will ensure correct placement of the needle for the procedure.
Additional x-rays will be taken to ensure the accurate delivery of a combination of an anti-inflammatory and anesthetic medication injected for pain relief.
You will remain awake during the 10-20 minute procedure, and you may experience some slight pressure or discomfort during the injection.
Please inform your physician of any feeling that differs from your usual symptoms.
You will be asked to wait 30-40 minutes after your procedure before leaving.
Areas Served NY
- Allerton
- Alphabet City
- Annadale
- Arden Heights
- Arrochar
- Arverne
- Astoria
- Auburndale
- Bath Beach
- Battery Park City
- Bay Ridge
- Baychester
- Bayside
- Bayswater
- Bedford-Stuyvesant
- Beechhurst
- Belle Harbor
- Bellerose
- Bensonhurst
- Bergen Beach
- Bloomfield
- Borough Park
- Breezy Point
- Briarwood
- Brighton Beach
- Brighton Heights
- Broad Channel
- Brooklyn Heights
- Brooklyn Manor
- Brooklyn
- Brookville
- Brownsville
- Bulls Head
- Bushwick
- Cambria Heights
- Canarsie
- Carroll Gardens
- Castleton Corners
- Cedar Manor
- Charleston
- Chelsea
- Chinatown
- Civic Center
- Clifton
- Clinton Hill
- Cobble Hill
- College Point
- Concord
- Coney Island
- Corona
- Crown Heights
- Dongan Hills
- Douglaston
- Dyker Heights
- East Elmhurst
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- East Harlem
- East New York
- East Village
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- Edgemere
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- Elmhurst
- Eltingville
- Emerson Hill
- Far Rockaway
- Financial District
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- Flatiron District
- Flatlands
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- Fort George
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- Fort Wadsworth
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- Fresh Meadows
- Garment District
- Gerritsen Beach
- Glen Oaks
- Glendale
- Graniteville
- Grant City
- Grasmere
- Gravesend
- Great Kills
- Greenpoint
- Greenridge
- Greenwich Village
- Grymes Hill
- Harlem
- Hell’s Kitchen
- Hollis Hills
- Hollis
- Howard Beach
- Huguenot
- Inwood
- Jackson Heights
- Jamaica Hills
- Jamaica
- Kensington
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- Kew Gardens
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- Laurelton
- Lighthouse Hill
- Linden-Park
- Little Italy
- Little Neck
- Long Island City
- Lower East Side
- Malba
- Manhattan Beach
- Manhattan
- Marble Hill
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- Middle Village
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- Midtown
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- Morris Park
- Neponsit
- New Brighton
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- New Dorp
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- NoHo
- Nolita
- Oakland Gardens
- Oakwood Beach
- Oakwood Heights Station
- Oakwood
- Old Town Station
- Ozone Park
- Park Slope
- Parsons Beach
- Pleasant Plains
- Pomonok
- Port Richmond
- Prospect Heights
- Queens
- Queens Village
- Randall Manor
- Rego Park
- Richmond Hill
- Richmond
- Richmond Valley
- Ridgewood
- Riverdale
- Rockaway Beach
- Rockaway Park
- Roosevelt Island
- Rosebank
- Rosedale
- Rossville
- Roxbury
- Seaside
- Sheepshead Bay
- Shore Acres
- Silver Lake
- SoHo
- South Beach
- South Jamaica
- South Ozone Park
- Springfield Gardens
- Spuyten Duyvil
- Stapleton
- Staten Island
- Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village
- Sunset Park
- Sutton Place
- Theater District
- Throggs Neck
- Todt Hill
- Tompkinsville
- Tottenville
- Tribeca
- Two Bridges
- Upper East Side
- Upper West Side
- Utopia
- Vinegar Hill
- Wakefield
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- West Brighton
- West Village
- Westerleigh
- Whitestone
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- Williamsburg
- Willowbrook
- Windsor Terrace
- Woodhaven
- Woodrow
- Woodside
Areas Served NJ
- Bergenfield
- Bogota
- Cliffside Park
- Closter
- Cresskill
- Dumont
- East Rutherford
- Edgewater
- Elmwood Park
- Englewood
- Fair Lawn
- Fairview
- Fort Lee
- Franklin Lakes
- Garfield
- Glen Rock
- Hackensack
- Hasbrouck Heights
- Hillsdale
- Leonia
- Little Ferry
- Lodi
- Lyndhurst
- Mahwah
- Maywood
- Montvale
- New Milford
- North Arlington
- Oakland
- Oradell
- Palisades Park
- Paramus
- Park Ridge
- Ramsey
- Ridgefield
- Ridgefield Park
- Ridgewood
- River Edge
- River Vale
- Rutherford
- Saddle Brook
- Teaneck
- Tenafly
- Upper Saddle River
- Waldwick
- Wallington
- Washington
- Westwood
- Wood-Ridge
- Wyckoff
- Bayonne
- East Newark
- Guttenberg
- Harrison
- Hoboken
- Jersey City
- Kearny
- North Bergen
- Secaucus
- Union City
- Weehawken
- West New York
- Berkeley Heights
- Clark
- Connecticut Farms
- Cranford
- Elizabeth
- Fanwood
- Garwood
- Hillside
- Kenilworth
- Linden
- Mountainside
- New Providence
- Plainfield
- Rahway
- Roselle
- Roselle Park
- Scotch Plains
- Springfield
- Summit
- Union
- Vauxhall
- Westfield
- Winfield
Areas Served FL
- Aladdin City
- Alameda
- Allapattah
- Allapattah Industrial District
- Atlantic Heights
- Auburndale
- Aventura
- Bal Harbour
- Bay Harbor Islands
- Bay Heights
- Bayfront
- Baypoint
- Bayshore
- Bayside
- Belle Island
- Belle Meade
- Belle Meade West
- Bicentennial Park
- Bird Grove East
- Bird Grove West
- Biscayne Gardens
- Biscayne Island
- Biscayne Park
- Biscayne Plaza
- Brentwood
- Brickell Business District
- Brickell Hammock
- Brickell Key
- Brickell Residential District
- Brickell Village
- Brownsville
- Buena Vista
- Buena Vista Heights
- Buena Vista West
- Bunche Park
- Carol City
- Cbd
- Citrus Grove
- Civic Center
- Coconut Grove
- Coopertown
- Coral Gables
- Coral Gate
- Coral Terrace
- Coral Way Village
- Costa Del Sol
- Country Club
- Country Walk
- Culmer
- Curtis Park
- Cutler
- Cutler Bay
- Cutler Ridge
- Deering Bay
- Design District
- Doral
- Doral Isles
- Doral Park
- Douglas Park
- East Grove
- East Little Havana
- Eastern Shores
- Edgewater
- Edison
- Edison Center
- El Portal
- Fair Isle
- Fashion District
- Fisher Island
- Flagami
- Flora Park
- Florida City
- Fortymile Bend
- Fountainebleau
- Franjo
- Frog City
- Gables by the Sea
- Gladeview
- Glenvar Heights
- Glenwood Heights
- Golden Beach
- Golden Glades
- Goulds
- Government Center
- Green-Mar Acres
- Grove Center
- Hadley Park
- Hawley Heights
- Haynesworth
- Hialeah
- Hialeah Gardens
- Highland Park
- Historic Buena Vista East
- Homestead
- Homestead Base
- Howard
- Indian Creek
- Indian Creek Village
- Inlikita
- Islandia
- Islands Of Doral
- Isle of Normandy
- Kendale Lakes
- Kendall
- Kendall West
- Key Biscayne
- Keystone Islands
- King Heights
- Kings Bay
- La Pastorita
- Lake Lucerne
- Latin Quarter
- Le Jeune Gardens
- Legion Park
- Leisure City
- Lemon City
- Liberty Square
- Lindgren
- Little Managua
- Little River
- Little River Central
- Little River Gardens
- Little River Industrial District
- Lummus Park
- Magnolia Park
- Mart Law Seminole Village
- Mdcc
- Media Art Entertainment
- Medley
- Melrose
- Miami
- Miami Avenue
- Miami Beach
- Miami Gardens
- Miami Lakes
- Miami Shores
- Miami Springs
- Midtown
- Modello
- Morningside
- Naranja
- Normandy Shores
- North Bay Village
- North Grapeland Heights
- North Grove
- North Miami
- North Miami Beach
- North Sewell Park
- Northeast Overtown
- Oakland Grove
- Ocean View Heights
- Ojus
- Old San Juan
- Olympia Heights
- Opa-locka
- Orange Bowl
- Orchard Villa
- Palm Bay
- Palm Grove
- Palm Springs North
- Palmetto Bay
- Parkdale North
- Parkdale South
- Parkwest
- Pelican Harbor
- Pennsuco
- Perrine
- Peters
- Pinecrest
- Pinewood
- Pinewood Park
- Port Of Miami
- Princeton
- Rainbow Village
- Redland
- Richmond Heights
- Richmond West
- Riverfront
- Roads
- Rockdale
- Saga Bay
- San Marco Island
- Santa Clara
- Seminola
- Shenandoah
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- Shorecrest
- Silver Bluff
- Silver Palm
- South Allapattah
- South Grapeland Heights
- South Grove
- South Grove Bayside
- South Miami
- South Miami Heights
- South Sewell Park
- Southeast Overtown
- Spring Garden
- Sun-Tan Village
- Sunny Isles Beach
- Sunrise Harbor
- Sunset
- Surfside
- Sweetwater
- Tamiami
- The Crossings
- The Hammocks
- The Pines
- Three Lakes
- Town Park
- University Park
- Vanderbilt Park
- Virginia Gardens
- Virginia Key
- Vizcaya
- Watson Island
- West Brickell
- West Grapeland Heights
- West Grove
- West Little River
- West Miami
- West Perrine
- Westchester
- Westview
- Westwood Lakes
- Wynwood Industrial District
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After the Procedure
There is very little recovery time after this procedure. Many patients return to work the same day.
You may experience numbness from your symptoms for up to six hours after the injection.
Your usual symptoms may then return and may possibly be worse than usual for a day or two.
The beneficial effects of the steroids usually require 2-3 days to be effective; in some cases it may take as long as 5-7 days. If there is no change in your symptoms after a week, consult with your doctor to investigate other possible causes of your pain.
If an initial injection provided a certain amount of relief, a second injection might strengthen the pain relief effect (known as “stacking”). Some patients have relief in the first few weeks, but if the pain returns in the following weeks and months, additional injections will increase your pain relief.
Keep track of how long your relief lasts and report it to your physician. If there is no change in the pain, then we can investigate other possible sources of your pain. The effects of the treatment are an important part of determining the problem and planning future treatment programs.
Possible side effects
Although side effects from this procedure are rare, our physician will review any possibilities with you before your procedure. Possible side effects include facial flushing, occasional low-grade fevers, hiccups, insomnia, headaches, water retention, increased appetite, increased heart rate, and abdominal cramping or bloating. These side effects occur in less than 5% of patients and usually disappear within 1-3 days after the injection. If you experience any side effects, please feel free to contact us at any time.
Have questions about your spine care? Contact us today for expert advice!