Spinal Injection Alternative San Diego CA
Spinal Injections - How Do They Work?
So with spinal injections, the goal is to reduce swelling and inflammation and hope that helps with decreasing the pain. In some cases, this does help and in others it will be neutral or worsen the condition.
The injection is typically cortisone which is a steroid. The steroid then works to reduce the extra fluid around the injection site. This again, can be helpful BUT........
Here's the downside.....
3 main points:
1. Cortisone is a desiccating substance! That means it causes dehydration of the surrounding tissues. When we are having disc related pain it is almost always because the disc is compressed and dehydrated. So with injections, we are further dehydrating the discs. This is why you can only receive 3 injections per year because of these effects.
2. The original cause of the pain was not addressed, which is the compression of the spinal discs.
3. Spinal injections are not FDA approved. This is straight from www.fda.gov
Injectable corticosteroids are commonly used to reduce swelling or inflammation. Injecting corticosteroids into the epidural space of the spine has been a widespread practice for many decades; however, the effectiveness and safety of the drugs for this use have not been established, and FDA has not approved corticosteroids for such use.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning that injection of corticosteroids into the epidural space of the spine may result in rare but serious adverse events, including loss of vision, stroke, paralysis, and death. The injections are given to treat neck and back pain, and radiating pain in the arms and legs. We are requiring the addition of a Warning to the drug labels of injectable corticosteroids to describe these risks. Patients should discuss the benefits and risks of epidural corticosteroid injections with their health care professionals, along with the benefits and risks associated with other possible treatments.
So rather than utilizing spinal injections, we look at getting right to the cause of the pain and utilize a Non-Surgical Treatment with no downtime, zero side effects and a relaxing treatment that has been researched and proven highly effective through Johns Hopkins University, Stanford University, Duke Medical Center and Mayo clinic among others.
Our treatment protocols are designed to be unique and specific for each patient and to get them out of pain as fast as possible and keep them that way.
Our office has been specializing in NSSD, Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression for the past 18 years. Everyday we perform 35-45 sessions. Every single decompression session is performed by our doctor and not our staff. He determines the settings and has unique protocols for each patient that is dynamic.
Our clinic director and founder, Dr. Cassidy Boelk DC is Certified Spinal Decompression Doctor. You can look up reviews on him and the office here. Over the past 18 years he has performed over 30,000 spinal decompression sessions.
With true spinal decompression, we can get water, oxygen and nutrients into the disc itself while flushing out swelling and inflammation which is adding to the pain. With traction and inversion tables the spinal muscles are unable to fully relax and thus they stay somewhat activated which then prevents the discs from getting into a negative pressure and healing properly and getting rid of the pain as much as possible.
Serious inquiries only please. For a no-charge, no-obligation consultation, call our office at 619-298-0800.