I’m In A Lot of Pain: Are Corticosteroid Injections Safe To Repeat Often?

Living with long-term pain means making decisions about pain management. It’s not good for your body to suffer from too much pain on a regular basis. However, some pain management strategies need to be used sparingly, with breaks to let your body recover from potentially negative impacts.

At Total Spine Institute of Sherman Oaks and Calabasas, California, we’re your partners in pain management planning. Dr. Andrew Fox and Dr. Ryan Mattie use a comprehensive range of pain management strategies to address your symptoms and improve your quality of life. We also ensure that your pain relief doesn’t pose too many risks for your long-term health.

One of the strategies we suggest for chronic spinal pain, such as back or neck pain, is pain injections with corticosteroid medication. This type of treatment can be very effective, but for reasons related to health, it can only be used in a specific and limited quantity and timeframe. 

Here’s what you need to know about using corticosteroid injections for long-term pain management, including benefits and limitations.

Reliving your pain and inflammation with corticosteroid injections

Pain injections at Total Spine Institute can include anesthetic or corticosteroid medications. Corticosteroids are different from anabolic steroids, which are the kind you hear about athletes abusing. 

Corticosteroids are safe to use on a limited basis and can be very helpful for spinal pain. These anti-inflammatory drugs can help with oral medications can’t, providing fast-acting and long-lasting pain relief.

At Total Spine Institute, your provider targets a specific area of your spine for your pain injection, optimizing your symptom relief results. If needed, a nerve block injection can tell us more about exactly where to place your corticosteroid injection. 

We use ultrasound imaging guidance during your treatment to deliver your injection treatment exactly where it will benefit you. Treatment is quick, taking less than an hour to complete.

Long-term use of corticosteroids: safety and spacing

It’s easy to see the benefits of corticosteroid injections for pain patients. However, cortisone can negatively impact your health if used too frequently. Overuse of corticosteroid injections can cause cartilage damage and even bone death. 

We recommend that you receive no more than three corticosteroid injections in the same joint in the same year and no more than six injections in a year taken together. You may also need to use cortisone more sparingly if you have an additional condition, such as diabetes.

One effective way to give your body a chance to recover from the potential negative effects of corticosteroids is treatment spacing. Spacing your injection treatments lets you enjoy long-lasting pain relief while also letting your body recover from the medication in your shot. Your injection sessions at Total Spine Institute are spaced at least 12 weeks apart for both of these reasons.

Your provider at Total Spine Institute works with you on a comprehensive pain management plan. Because you can’t safely use corticosteroids continuously, you need additional forms of pain relief support. Physical therapy and regenerative medicine treatment with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections may be helpful options for you to explore in more detail.

If you’re living with pain, contact the team at Total Spine Institute to learn more about pain management techniques that can relieve symptoms while supporting your whole-body health. Schedule your initial consultation appointment online or over the phone today.