Who Is A Good Candidate for a Cervical Steroid Injection?

Candidates for injection are usually patients that have exhausted conservative care and treatment options with no improvement of their pain or symptoms and have an MRI or nerve conduction studies that would indicate spinal cord inflammation or compression. Cervical steroid injections most commonly treat the following spinal symptoms and conditions:

• Numbness or tingling in the hands, arms shoulders, and neck
• Sharp or dull pain in the neck, shoulder traveling into the arms and hand
• Herniated or bulging disc in the neck
• Degenerative disc disease

What Happens During A Cervical Steroid Injection?

The injection usually takes place in the physician’s clinic, surgery center, or in some cases in the hospital. Patients are asked to change into a hospital gown so that the physician has access to clean and easily visualize the injection site. The cervical epidural injection typically takes only about 15-30 minutes and follows a standard protocol:

• The patient lies flat on an X-ray table with some pillows under their stomach
• Your skin on your neck is cleaned and then numbed with a local anesthetic.
• Under fluoroscopy (live X-ray), the physician safely guides a needle into your skin toward the spinal canal above your spinal cord.
• Once the needle is in the proper location, the epidural steroid medication is injected. Patients may sense some pressure as the medication is delivered. The pressure may be uncomfortable but generally not painful.
• After the injection, patients are monitored for about 20 minutes before being discharged home.