Spinal Injection

If chronic pain due to inflammation or an injury negatively affects your everyday life, you don’t have to live with it. Spinal injections are recommended when conservative treatments like medication, physical therapy, or lifestyle modifications fail to alleviate debilitating back or neck pain. These injections deliver medication directly into the affected area of the spine, targeting specific nerves or inflamed tissue to reduce pain and inflammation. They can provide both diagnostic information and therapeutic relief for conditions such as herniated discs, spinal stenosis, or facet joint arthritis, often offering patients a significant improvement in their quality of life.

What are spinal injections?

Spinal injections are medicines Dr. Weisbein uses to relieve chronic pain that doesn’t subside on its own or with conservative treatments. She may recommend mobility exercises, stretches, and stability exercises to optimize your outcome after a spinal injection.

Am I a good candidate for spinal injections?

Dr. Weisbein and her pain management team let you know if you’re a good candidate for spinal injections after reviewing your symptoms and medical history and completing an exam. They may use blood tests, X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, or other imaging procedures to determine what’s causing your pain and to establish the most appropriate treatment.

What are the types of spinal injections?

Dr. Weisbein may recommend one or more of the following spinal injections:

  • Sacroiliac joint injections: Dr. Weisbein places sacroiliac joint injections, containing steroids, between sacrum and ilium bones in your spine to relieve low back, buttock, and leg pain.

  • Facet joint injections: Facet joint injections are medicines Dr. Weisbein places in and around your facet joints or tiny joints between each vertebra near the back of your spine. These injections are often useful if you have pain in your neck or middle or lower back caused by arthritis or an injury. Facet injections may also relieve radiating pain in your buttocks, upper legs, or shoulders.

  • Epidural injections: During epidural injections, Dr. Weisbein injects anesthetic or anti-inflammatory medicine into the epidural space near a compressed nerve. These injections treat pain in your spine or radiating pain in your arms or legs associated with a pinched nerve.

  • Diagnostic injections: Diagnostic injections help Dr. Weisbein diagnose the cause of your pain, rather than treating the pain. After diagnosing your condition, she may use another type of injection for pain relief.

What should I expect during my injection?

Once Dr. Weisbein and her team determine which type of spinal injection is right for you, they use a local anesthetic, so you don’t feel any pain. Under X-ray guidance to optimize precision and accuracy, they inject medicine into your spine. You can go home the same day as the procedure with little to no downtime. You should feel pain relief within a day or two after your injection.

Don’t make chronic pain a part of your normal routine when spinal injections are simple and virtually painless. To schedule a new patient appointment, please call (707) 254-7117 or submit an Online Appointment Request here: New Patient Intake Form. If you are an existing patient, please call (707) 603-1078.