3 Reasons to Avoid Spinal Injections

If you’ve suffered from pain in your back with radiating pain to the arm or leg, it could be caused by a spinal disc pressing on one of your nerves. If a medical doctor recognizes a pinched nerve on your MRI, they might refer you for a spinal injection. While this can sometimes be the right thing, new research has begun to show that spinal injections aren’t very effective at treating back pain, and the risks may far outweigh the rewards. Keep reading to discover a better path towards relief.

Spinal injections often can’t provide long term relief because they don’t address the cause of the pain: your pinched nerve. While reducing inflammation is good, reducing compression and opening space for the nerve is a better strategy. Chiropractic care can help improve the motion of your spine and decrease the irritation on your spinal nerves that causes pain. New research has found that chiropractic adjustments can provide more relief than injections, without any of the associated risks, such as damaging soft tissue, infection, or raising blood sugar.

– Spinal injections have been shown to be ineffective at providing relief for low back pain.

– Chiropractic can offer more relief than spinal injections for people with lumbar disc herniations according to a paper published in JMPT.

– One study found Chiropractic patients experiencing up to 60% relief, while another discovered patients receiving spinal injections only reported 14% relief.

Now what?

The research is clear: before getting a spinal injection, it’s a smart decision to explore Chiropractic. We believe your body has an incredible ability to heal itself. Medications mask the symptoms, but to find lasting relief- you need to address the cause.

I have suffered 2 ruptured discs, and I know that a spinal injection was part of my strategy to avoid surgery. Chiropractic and laser therapy are part of my strategy to avoid injections, and to stay well for the rest of my life.

If a spinal disc issue is affecting the life of you or someone you know, give us a call and get your life back!

Science Source(s):

The Effectiveness and Risks of Fluoroscopically Guided Lumbar Interlaminar Epidural Steroid Injections. Pain Science 2017

Interlaminar versus transforaminal epidural injections for the treatment of symptomatic lumbar intervertebral disc herniations. Pain Physician 2006

Symptomatic MRI-Confirmed Lumbar Disk Herniation Patients: A Comparative Effectiveness Prospective Observational Study of 2 Age- and Sex-Matched Cohorts Treated with Either High- Velocity, Low Amplitude Spinal Manipulative Therapy or Imaging-Guided Lumbar Nerve Root Injections. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 2013 May; 36(4):218-25