Diagnostic Injection
Diagnostic injection is used to help make an accurate diagnosis of your pain.
Many times imaging and examination are not enough. Using an image-guided precision injection, we can refine your diagnosis and subsequently improve the probability of successful treatment. While every effort is made to keep you comfortable with the use of local anesthetic, these injections are typically done with no sedation, as this interferes with your ability to assess the result.
Diagnostic injections can be an important part of the process of effectively treating a pain condition by helping us pinpoint the specific cause of your pain.
Sometimes, multiple structural abnormalities are seen in X-rays, CT scans, or MRIs, but they aren’t the actual cause of your pain. Using diagnostic injection, structural abnormalities are identified and temporarily numbed. If this stops your pain temporarily, then that is likely the source of your pain.
Our Commitment
We are committed to providing the highest level of care to those with chronic pain through a comprehensive approach to treatments. We utilize the most advanced techniques to accurately diagnose the source of a patient’s pain.
Our Focus
Our focus is on decreasing or eliminating pain while restoring normal function to the injured areas. Once we have accurately diagnosed the issue, we will proceed with a treatment plan tailored to your specific needs.
How the Treatment is Performed
Injections may be performed with the help of fluoroscopic or ultrasonic guidance to better guide the needle to the affected area. Image guidance of the needle makes the injection much safer and more accurate.
After the diagnostic injection has been administered, it’s important for you to tell your physician how much your pain has been reduced by the injection. A pain diary may be provided so you can record your pain over the next hours. It’s important to closely track your pain in order to get an accurate diagnosis. In most cases, you’ll be able to go home within an hour of the injection being administered. This will usually be followed up with an appointment within one or two weeks to go over your pain diary and your possible diagnosis.
