Are there any additional treatments for severe neck pain?
Corticosteroids reduce inflammation and may be used to relieve neck pain in some cases. Corticosteroid medications can be taken by mouth or injected into the joints and muscles in the neck, the epidural space (the space between the outer covering of the spinal cord and the vertebrae), or the space around nerve roots. When given as an injection, corticosteroids are often mixed with a local anaesthetic, and can be used to treat neck pain resulting from: • inflamed and painful facet joints in the neck (the joints between the vertebrae); • trigger points (hard, knot-like areas in muscles that are painful to touch and result from repetitive stress on the muscles); • cervical nerve root irritation – where disc fragments or bone spurs are impinging on a spinal nerve root as it exits the spine; and • herniated (or slipped) discs.
