Spinal Nerve Irritation or Compression
Spinal nerve irritation or compression is often the result of a herniated disc or degenerative arthritis of the spine. These conditions can put pressure on your spinal nerves and inflame them. This inflammation can cause muscle spasms and pain radiating to your hands and feet.
At The Mount Sinai Health System, we use the following procedures to treat pain related to spinal nerve irritation or compression. For each procedure, we use imaging guidance to access the region around the irritated nerve, nerve root or region of the spine. Then, using a catheter, we infuse medication to provide relief.
- Epidural, transforaminal, and nerve root injections. Epidural, transforaminal, and nerve root injections can relieve the pain and inflammation related to nerve irritation. Your doctor will then inject both an anesthetic and a steroid into the affected area to provide long-term pain relief.
Medial branch block and facet joint injections. These procedures are used to treat pain related to facet degenerative disease or trauma. We use real-time imaging to localize the facet joint or the medial branch (nerve supply to facet joint). A needle is inserted to the level of the painful facet and a combination of anesthetics and steroids are injected for long-term pain relief.
Patients who respond well to medial branch blocks may be candidates for radiofrequency ablation (RFA). This procedure involves placing a probe at the location of the diseased facet joint nerves. A strong radiofrequency pulse is sent through the probe, destroying the nerve and resulting in significant pain relief.
Sacroiliac joint injection. The sacroiliac joint connects the spine and pelvis. Over time this joint can wear away, resulting in severe pain. The pain can be transmitted to the pelvis, lower back, groin, legs, or abdomen.
Your doctor can treat this pain by injecting an anesthetic and a steroid directly into your sacroiliac joint. Your physician will use minimally invasive, advanced imaging technology to find the proper location for the injections. He or she will then insert a needle into one or both sacroiliac joints, depending on your symptoms.The injections can provide short- and long-term pain relief.
Klingenstein Clinical Center, 1-North
1450 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10029