Injections are a nonsurgical treatment option for acute or chronic neck or back pain. They are considered to treat spinal pain after other nonsurgical measures such as medications and/or physical therapy have been tried, but before surgery is considered. Injections can provide pain relief and help determine the source of a patient’s pain.

How Injections Relieve Pain

Injections can deliver medication directly to the anatomic location that generates pain, which may provide more neck or back pain relief than oral medications.

Injections for neck and/or back pain may work in one of the following ways:

- Deliver a steroid and/or other pain-relieving medication into the area that is the source of pain to reduce inflammation and numb the pain.

- Create a heat lesion (radiofrequency ablation) on a pain-transmitting nerve to prevent it from sending pain signals to the brain.

Injections can also be used to help determine the anatomic structure in the spine that could potentially be the source of pain, such as a herniated disc or a compressed nerve.