Injections For Osteochondrosis Of The Lumbar, Cervical, Thoracic Spine

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-15 19:51

Injections for osteochondrosis

The content of the article:

1. Injections for osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine: general principles

   1. How do injections work?
   2. Benefits
   3. disadvantages
   4. Administration methods

2. Anesthetic injections for osteochondrosis

   1. How do
   2. List of medicines and their analogues
3. Muscle relaxants

4. Chondroprotectors

   1. How do
   2. List of drugs
5. B vitamins
6. Blockades
7. How else to treat the disease
8. Video

Osteochondrosis is a degenerative-dystrophic disease, in which intervertebral discs are most often affected. The treatment is usually complex; medications, physiotherapy exercises, massage, physiotherapy procedures are prescribed. Injections for osteochondrosis are one of the important components of treatment. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), muscle relaxants, chondroprotectors, B vitamins can be injected.

Osteochondrosis injections help to effectively cope with pain

Injections for osteochondrosis of the lumbar spine: general principles

Drug treatment is used during an exacerbation of the disease. Medicines are often given parenterally because injections work faster than tablets, gels, and ointments. Drug treatment is indicated for all types of osteochondrosis - cervical, thoracic, lumbosacral.

How do injections work?

Injections are a symptomatic treatment of a disease, their action is aimed at getting rid of one or another symptom. Unfortunately, in most cases, it is impossible to cure osteochondrosis only with the help of injections; the disease must be treated in a comprehensive manner.

The mechanism of action of different types of injections for osteochondrosis, of course, is different.

1. NSAIDs - relieve pain, relieve inflammation.
2. Muscle relaxants - relieve muscle tension.
3. Chondroprotectors - slow down the destruction of cartilage tissue.
4. B vitamins - improve the condition of the nerve roots, eliminate sensitivity disorders.

Benefits

Injections are just one way of administering drugs. The same medicines can be taken orally or as ointments. Each method of administration has its own advantages and disadvantages. The main advantages of injection are the following:

1. Fast action. The tablets begin to act on average after 30 minutes, since it takes time for the drug to be absorbed in the stomach. With injections, the drug enters the bloodstream immediately and acts faster. So, with intravenous administration, the drug begins to act in 2-3 minutes, with intramuscular administration - after 5-15.
2. The ability to choose the exact dose. When tablets are taken orally (orally), part of the drug is destroyed by the action of digestive enzymes, so it is difficult to find the exact dose. With parenteral administration, the amount of active substance does not change, which allows you to select the exact dosage.
3. It can be prescribed for the pathology of the digestive tract, when the absorption of substances is impaired.

disadvantages

The parenteral route of administration also has its drawbacks. The main disadvantages include the following:

1. Invasiveness. With injections, the integrity of the skin and other tissues is violated, which can lead to infection or other complications.
2. Soreness. Injections are always accompanied by unpleasant sensations.
3. Limited use. Often intramuscular and intravenous injections, blockades are done in a medical institution, while pills can be drunk at home.

Administration methods

Several types of injections can be used to treat osteochondrosis:

1. Intravenous jet. A large vein (usually the ulnar) is pierced with a syringe needle, the drug is injected with a syringe directly into the bloodstream.
2. Intravenous drip. The drug is also injected directly into a vein, but much more slowly. Droppers are placed if it is necessary to achieve a constant concentration of the drug in the blood and long-term action.
3. Intramuscular. The medicine is injected into muscle tissue, from where it is gradually absorbed into the blood.
4. Blockades. The medicine is injected into the paravertebral tissues or the cavity of a large joint (shoulder, knee).

The method of administration of the drug is selected by the doctor depending on the specific drug, the severity of clinical manifestations, the presence of concomitant diseases.

Anesthetic injections for osteochondrosis

The main symptom that worries patients with osteochondrosis is back pain. Pain medications - NSAIDs or other analgesics - will help get rid of the pain syndrome.

How do

The main group of drugs that are used to relieve pain syndrome are NSAIDs. Their mechanism of action is to suppress the action of the enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX-2), which is responsible for the production of prostaglandins - the main regulators of inflammation. NSAIDs are of two types:

1. Selective - inhibit only COX-2. Do not cause side reactions from the gastrointestinal tract.
2. Non-selective - inhibit both COX-2 and "useful" COX-1. Suppression of COX-1 can cause damage to the lining of the stomach and intestines.

Thus, when choosing an anesthetic drug, one must take into account the presence of concomitant pathology. With gastritis, gastric ulcer, it is necessary to give preference to selective NSAIDs.

With the injection of NSAIDs, the analgesic effect occurs in 5-10 minutes. NSAIDs not only effectively relieve pain, but also affect inflammation, which is equally important in osteochondrosis.

To choose a drug for relieving pain syndrome, you need to know which group of drugs it belongs to.

Diclofenac is a drug from the NSAID group

List of medicines and their analogues

Group of drugs	Names
Non-selective NSAIDs	Diclofenac (Dicloberl); Ketoprofen (Ketonal, Artrocol); Dexetoprofen (Dexalgin).
Selective NSAIDs	Meloxicam (Movalis); Parecoxib (Dinastat); Rofecoxib (Denebol, Dolorof).

Muscle relaxants

One of the symptoms of the disease is muscle tension in the area of the affected intervertebral disc. With osteochondrosis, the back muscles experience additional stress, trying to keep the spine in the most painless posture for a person. Back muscle hypertonicity gradually leads to pain. Means from the group of muscle relaxants relieve muscle tension well.

What muscle relaxants can be used:

• Midocalm;
• Sirdalud;
• Tizanidine;
• Baclofen.

Muscle relaxants are useful in combination with physical exercise, massage, physiotherapy procedures.

Mydocalm - a drug from the group of muscle relaxants

Chondroprotectors

Chondroprotectors are drugs that protect cartilage from destruction. Chondroprotectors are the only drugs that can slow down the development of osteochondrosis.

How do

Chondroprotectors include natural components of cartilage tissue - chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine. Chondroitin sulfate (CS) and glucosamine act by different mechanisms, so they are often used together:

1. CS - strengthens connective tissue structures (cartilage, tendons, ligaments). It also has anti-inflammatory effects.
2. Glucosamine is part of the synovial fluid. Protects the articular surface from friction.

The use of chondroprotectors at an early stage of osteochondrosis prevents further development of the disease. The later the treatment started, the less its effectiveness. The course of treatment with chondroprotectors is long - the drugs must be administered for at least 3 months.

List of drugs

When choosing a drug, it is necessary to take into account the composition (CS or glucosamine) and the route of administration. In most cases, chondroprotectors are administered parenterally, less often - into the joint cavity.

Composition of preparations	Name
Monopreparation (CS)	Arthouse; Mukosat.
Monopreparation (glucosamine)	Sinart; Glucosate; Don.

Don is a drug from the group of chondroprotectors

B vitamins

Vitamins do not directly affect the mechanism of disease development. They are necessary to improve the trophism of the nervous tissue, since with osteochondrosis, the spinal roots are often infringed, due to which their metabolism suffers.

The following B vitamins are prescribed:

• thiamine (B1);
• pyridoxine (B6);
• cyanocobalamin (B12).

The use of B vitamins allows you to eliminate the symptoms of damage to the nervous tissue: decreased sensitivity, numbness of the limbs, a feeling of creeping.

List of multivitamin medicines that can be used for osteochondrosis:

• Neurorubin.
• Neuromultivitis.
• Milgamma.
• Nevrolek.
• Neurobion.

Milgamma is a preparation containing B vitamins

Blockades

To relieve pain in osteochondrosis, paravertebral blockade is prescribed. This is a fairly invasive procedure in which drugs are injected into the paravertebral tissues.

The action is aimed at a specific segment of the spine, changes in which are the cause of pain. Therefore, the injection site will differ depending on the type of osteochondrosis (cervical, thoracic, lumbosacral).

How is paravertebral blockade performed:

• the skin is treated with an antiseptic;
• local anesthesia is performed (anesthetic should be injected to the right and left of the vertebrae);
• the skin is pierced, then the needle is advanced perpendicular to the frontal plane of the body and the main drug is injected.

What drugs can be administered for paravertebral blockade:

1. Local anesthetics - Novocaine, Ultracaine, Bupivacaine, Lidocaine.
2. Glucocorticoids - Diprospan, Betaspan.

The action of paravertebral blockade begins instantly - the medicine begins to help immediately after administration. The action remains on average for 1 week, then the procedure must be carried out again.

Bupivacaine is a drug that is used to carry out blockades for osteochondrosis

How else to treat the disease

Injections are an important, but far from the only method of treating osteochondrosis. In addition to treatment with injections during an exacerbation, the following methods are used:

Method	Explanation
Physiotherapy (exercise therapy)	Physiotherapy is aimed at strengthening the muscle corset, improving blood circulation, decompression of the nerve roots. With regular exercise, the load on the spine decreases.
Massage	Massage effectively relieves muscle tension, pain, improves blood circulation and metabolic processes in the affected area.
Physiotherapy	Physiotherapy procedures include exposure to the injured area with ultraviolet light, current, magnetic ultrasound.
Spinal traction	Traction (traction) of the spine is aimed at increasing the intervertebral space.

Video

We offer for viewing a video on the topic of the article.

Anna Kozlova Medical journalist About the author

Education: Rostov State Medical University, specialty "General Medicine".

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