Post Procedure
After any procedure there is a short recovery period. Please bring someone to drive you to and from the office on the day of your procedure. All drivers are asked to wait in the lobby area so that our staff may let them know when patients are ready to be checked out after their procedure.
After the procedure, you will be given detailed discharge instructions. These instructions will include directions on eating, drinking, physical activity and medical concerns.
Please note:
*If you have had an Epidural Steroid Injection, you should have a relaxing day. You do not have to be bed ridden, but you should limit your activities to your home. You should not go back to work or make any major decisions for the remainder of the day. The benefits of the injection may be affected if you are over-active (do yard work, go shopping all afternoon, fix the roof, go jogging, etc.).
*If you have had a Medial Branch Block, you should go do things that would normally aggravate your pain. For example, if you have had a Lumbar Medial Branch Block for your lower back and you normally wouldn’t be able to touch your toes or mow the lawn, you should try to do those things over the 6 – 8 hours after your Medial Branch Block. This “test” of your pain will let our physician know whether or not the procedure was successful. If you attempt to do something on the day of your Medial Branch Block that you normally couldn’t do, but you can do without pain the day of your procedure, our physician knows he has put the correct nerve to sleep.
Emergency
Life-threatening emergencies are not treated in our clinic. A life-threatening emergency should be treated either at the Emergency Room or by calling 911. If you have an urgent need that cannot wait until regular business hours, such as a severe drug reaction or an immediate need because of a reaction to a procedure (severe headache, severe pain from injection, severe rash or fever after injection, etc.), you need to go to the Emergency Room. If you call our office, our voicemail is NOT checked during the night or over the weekend, so you will not be called back until the next business day.