What conditions can be helped by injections?
. The conditions that can be helped include arthritis of specific joints of the spine and pinched nerves. Q. Which joints could be involved? A. In my practice the most commonly involved joints which benefit from injections include the facetjoints (small, paired joints on the posterior spine), sacroiliac joints (large joints on either side of the sacrum) and the joints between the vertebrae themselves which contain the discs. Q. How are spinal injections done? A. Since the joints in the spine are usually narrow and small, most of them can only be entered with confidence if the doctor uses an imaging machine to localize the needle tip. Special X-ray machines or CT scans can confirm the location of the needle tip before the injection occurs. This not only increases effectiveness but safety as well. Some doctors safely perform a type of spinal injectioncalled epidural steroid injections without CT or X-ray guidance. Others prefer to use a special X-ray machine. Q. I have had back pain for
