Pain Management

When pain persists, your Mount Sinai spine physiatrist may perform a spinal intervention procedure, such as:

• Epidural steroid injections send medication directly to your irritated or pinched nerve or sciatica. We use X-ray guidance to pinpoint the right spot. The injection decreases inflammation and speeds healing.
• Facet/zygapophyseal joint injections or medial branch blocks are injections under X-ray guidance into the joints of your back or neck, or the nerves supplying those joints. They help diagnose and treat the painful arthritic joints.
• Facet/zygapophyseal radiofrequency ablations use X-rays to guide a needle, using a tiny electric probe. The needle delivers radio wave electricity, which can block the joint’s pain signal for up to a year.
• Sacroiliac joint injections deliver pain medication to the sacroiliac joint. Guided by X-rays, the injection can decrease pain in the joint.
• Peripheral joint injections can help pain in the hip or shoulder joint. Often, this pain can feel like spine pain. By injecting pain reliever into the peripheral joint, we can help you feel better. We use X-rays or ultrasounds to guide these injections.
• Platelet-rich plasma injections use a newer injection category called Biologic. This involves reinjecting your own blood back into the painful structures in your spine. We usually guide the injection with X-rays or ultrasound.
• Intradiscal procedures use diagnostic tests called discograms. We pass a needle into the disc in question to see if it is the cause of your pain. Someday, we may be able to use this approach to treat disc-related pain. Today, however, the approach is experimental and controversial.
• Spinal stimulators help with longstanding chronic pain that has not been helped by other treatments. We use X-ray guidance to place a small wire into your spinal canal. Then we provide electrical impulses that may block the feeling of pain.