General Guideline Principles for Injections:
Therapeutic for workers compensation patients

The New York State workers compensation board has developed these guidelines to help physicians, podiatrists, and other healthcare professionals provide appropriate treatment for Injections: Therapeutic.

These Workers Compensation Board guidelines are intended to assist healthcare professionals in making decisions regarding the appropriate level of care for their patients with ankle and foot disorders.

The guidelines are not a substitute for clinical judgement or professional experience. The ultimate decision regarding care must be made by the patient in consultation with his or her healthcare provider.

Injections: Therapeutic

Therapeutic Spinal Injections

After attempting early conservative therapies including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, medicine, exercise, manual therapy, or acupuncture, therapeutic spinal injections may be performed.

• Only once pathology has been proven by imaging examinations and diagnostic injections may therapeutic injections be administered.

   

• Clinical manifestation and counterstatement should be strictly followed while administering injections since they are intrusive procedures that can result in fatal outcomes

   

• The goal of spinal injections allowed active treatment by offering momentary pain and inflammation alleviation.

   

• All victims and patients should continue with functionally focused therapy while engaging in appropriate exercise.

   

• It is usually necessary to repeat the sessions that were originally scheduled for active therapy, which patients should have had before receiving injections.The use of injections by itself is unlikely to bring about long-term relief. Instead, active rehabilitation with reduced work improves the active range of stability, strength, motion to to promote long-term relief.

   

• If an injection doesn’t work the first time, don’t get another one.

   

  • enhancement of performance

     

  • Pain alleviation that is both temporary and long-lasting as determined by recognized pain measures, such as a fifty percent pain reduction on the visual analog scale decrease in the dosage of prescription analgesics.

     

  • Based on the patient’s assessment and reaction, medical care should either be maintained or changed.

Special Considerations:

• Multi-planar fluoroscopy is necessary during operations for all injections (apart from activating poi nerve blocks) to toe cord technique and needle placement.

   

• All injections (apart from activating point) must be administered by a doctor with training in the technique. A doctor or a nurse practitioner/doctor assistant skilled in the process can provide trigger point injections.

   

• To record the positioning of the needle, permanent pictures are necessary.

   

• Physicians that provide injections may have a variety of specialist backgrounds, including but not restricted to anesthesiology, radiography, surgery, or physiatry.

   

• The practitioner should have undergone fellowship training with interventional training in a relevant medical specialty (e.g., neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, physiatry, pain, management, etc.). For investigations done with fluoroscopy, the practitioner must also be educated in radiation safety.

Complications:

General complications of spinal injections may include:

The general risks associated with spinal injections include

• momentary neurapraxia

   

• regional pain

   

• Nerve damage

   

• Infection

   

• Headache

   

• Vasovagal reactions

   

• There might potentially be a spinal meningeal abscess, epidural hematoma, long-term neurologic harm, dural perforation and CSF leaking, and/or other complications.

   

• Although they are uncommon, more severe side effects might cause mortality, quadriplegia, spinal cord injury, and persistent ataxia.

   

• A dose-dependent suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis caused by steroid injections may continue for one to three months. 
• Particularly in diabetics, steroid injections may cause a brief increase in glucose levels.

Contraindications:

Absolute prohibitions on therapeutic injections include the following:

• systemic or localized bacterial infection, bleeding diatheses,

   

• hematological disorders, and the possibility of pregnancy

Associated indications why diagnostic injections should not be used include:

• poorly managed Diabetes Mellitus,

   

• a contrast allergy,

   

• hypertension

Aspirin, NSAIDs, anti-platelets, and anticoagulants—drugs that alter coagulation—are frequently prohibited.

Considering the patient’s unique underlying medical condition, decisions on anticoagulation should be determined in consultation with the injector, the prescribing doctor, and any other necessary experts

Cervical Epidural / Interlaminar Steroid Injections (ESI)

Corticosteroid injections into the epidural space are known as cervical ESI.

By reducing pain and inflammation and improving range of motion, ESI helps patients advance in more active regimens.

As with other therapies, it’s crucial to make sure patients have reasonable expectations for how the process will turn out.
Patients with diabetes who are candidates for ESI should be advised that while a post-intervention blood glucose spike may be noticeable, the increase is often temporary.

Cervical ESIs must consist of all outlines fluoroscopically replacement of the needle.

Needle position to record the positioning of the needle, permanent pictures are necessary.

Contrast epidurograms make it possible to confirm the medication’s passage into the epidural space. As clinically indicated, one epidurogram is advised for each round of ESI injections.

1. Cervical Epidural / Interlaminar Steroid Injections (ESI)

   Cervical Epidural / Interlaminar Steroid Injections (ESI) is recommended in those who have cervical radicular pain syndrome symptoms

   Cervical Epidural / Interlaminar Steroid Injections (ESI)

   Cervical Epidural / Interlaminar Steroid Injections (ESI) is not recommended for non-radicular pain syndromes or cervical axial discomfort.

   Note: Anesthesia is often not advised for cervical ESI.

   Frequency:

    

   • Depending on the patient’s reaction (increased function and pain reduction), three injections (per spinal area) may be given within 12 months. Per therapy sessions, sessions than one level may be used.

      

   • It is advised to schedule each injection individually and

      

   • Instead of planning a “Series of Three,” the effects of each injection should be assessed based on the patient’s reaction (increased function and pain reduction).

      

   • Repeat injections are not advised if the initial injection does not result in a response with temporary and persistent pain alleviation (for at least two weeks), supported by recognized pain scales (i.e., a 50% reduction in pain as assessed by instruments like the VAS), and improvement in function.

      

   • A successful outcome (functional improvement) should involve a return to baseline functionality or job responsibilities as well as a discernible enhancement in physical activity goals.

      

   • After each injection, patients should be evaluated again for:

      

     • enhancement of performance

        

     • Pain alleviation that is both temporary and long-lasting as evaluated by recognized pain scales, such as a 50% reduction in pain on the VAS decrease in the dosage of prescribed analgesics.

        

     • Depending on the evaluation and reaction of the patient, medical care should be continued or modified.

        

     • The disappearance of symptoms, their reduction to a manageable level, or their absence.

        

     • In the absence of substantial radicular symptoms, epidural glucocorticosteroid injections are harmful and not ad sed for acute or non-acute neck discomfort.

        

     • Any non-acute axial neck discomfort without a radicular component is not advised to be treated with them.

        

2. Cervical Transforaminal

   Cervical Transforaminal Injections is not recommended

    

3. Cervical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Medial Nerve Branch Blocks / Facet (Zygapophyseal) Joint Injections

   Facet joint (medial branch block or injections into the intra-articular facet joint area that blocks the main middle nerve innervation of the facet joint)

    

   • Cervical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Medial Nerve Branch Blocks / Facet (Zygapophyseal) Joint Injections

     Cervical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Medial Nerve Branch Blocks / Facet (Zygapophyseal) Joint Injections are recommended Cervical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Medial Nerve Branch Blocks / Facet (Zygapophyseal) Joint Injections are recommended for acute neck pain that has not improved with conservative care when there is axial neck discomfort that persists after an accident (for instance, status after whiplash injury).

     These injections include an anesthetic and a steroid to treat acute pain.

     Frequency: As clinically needed, at least three injections for acute pain may be given overall every 12 months.

      

   •  Cervical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Medial Nerve Branch Blocks / Facet (Zygapophyseal) Joint Injections are not Recommended.

     For severe neck discomfort, only anesthetic-only diagnostic injections into the medial branch block or facet joints are recommended.

     Cervical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Medial Nerve Branch Blocks / Facet (Zygapophyseal) Joint Injections are recommended Select patients with non-acute neck discomfort may receive medial branch block injections to see if procedures targeting the facet joint (by obstructing main middle nerve innervation to the side joint) should be carried out

      

4. Repeat Medial Branch Block Injections

   Repeat Medial Branch Block Injections is recommended Whether steroids are utilised, if a patient responds well to a diagnostic medial branch block injection, the second injection of medial branch block should be given to solidify the diagnosis. To validate the degree of participation, this second injection of coa narrative medial branch block should be carried out on a different day.

   The patient should be assessed to see whether they require more definitive therapy, such as radiofrequency ablation, or if there is a good response to the second diagnostic medial branch block injection.

   To allow for the possibility of prolonged pain alleviation, the anesthetic drug and steroid should be combined while providing a diagnostic injection.

   The diagnosis should be reevaluated if there is no positive good response to the initial diagnostic injection.

   Doctors have not advised to repeat diagnostic injection if the initial injection does not result in a favorable reaction. Optimal Therapeutic Effect (either the injection of Medial Branch Block or Facet Joint Injection)

   To extend the benefits, steroids may be given therapeutically. The extended therapeutic benefit’s objective is to reduce pain and improve function so that the patient can engage in an active rehabilitation program (in which the patient was incapable to inject the injection before the time).

   To extend the benefits, steroids may be given therapeutically. The extended therapeutic benefit’s objective is to reduce pain and improve function so that the patient can engage in an active rehabilitation program (in which the patient was incapable to inject the injection before the time).

   Patients should undergo reevaluation following each therapeutic injection for a confirmed 50% reduction in pain, as determined by recognized pain measures, and for improved functional outcomes.

   Measurable progress in physical activity objectives, including a return to previous levels of work activities, should be part of a favorable outcome (functional improvement).

   Before to the operation, shortly after the procedure, and at certain intervals following the procedure, pain should be assessed using recognized pain measures.

   The requirement for radiofrequency ablation does not necessarily follow from a positive reaction to a therapeutic injection

   Repeat steroid injections are not advised if the first healing injection does not result in improved function for at least four to six weeks and persistent pain alleviation supported by recognized pain scales (i.e., 50% verified pain reduction as evaluated by recognized pain instruments).

   Frequency: Depending on the patient’s documented reaction (i.e., better functional gain and pain reduction), up to three injections for each suitable joint may be given for 12 months, but not more than three joint levels (four medial branch nerves) each session. 3 sessions maximum a year.

   Note: Based on patient-specific clinical factors, the time frames mentioned above for considering different injections may change.

    

5. Intradiscal Steroid Therapy are not recommended.

    

   • Occipital Nerve Block

     Occipital Nerve Block is recommended There may be peripheral greater occipital nerve block suited as the first line of defense against occipital neuralgia.

     Frequency/ Duration – Depending on the reaction, there may be one to three injections. If progressive clinical and functional improvement is shown, up to three injections may be given.infection, neurological damage, and bleeding. Ataxia following a procedure is frequent and often lasts for 30 minutes.

     Inadvertent blood vessel injection is a concern of this treatment and might result in systemic toxicity and/or convulsions since the occipital artery and occipital nerve are connected.

      

   • Trigger Point Injections and Dry Needling Treatment

     Localized hyperirritable, palpable nodules called myofascial trigger tips are found in extraordinarily sensitive bands of tense skeletal muscle fibers. These nodules cause both local discomfort and pain that is referred to distant regions when compressed.

      

     • Situation point injection is not the same as acupuncture; the only methods of treating trigger points are dry needling or local anesthetic injections into myofascial trigger points. Please see the Medical Treatment Guideline’s section on acupuncture for further information.

        

     • No proof administering drugs intravenously enhances the outcomes of trigger point injections. A portion of the healing response might be attributed to needles alone

        

     • As with other therapies, it’s crucial to make sure that patients have reasonable expectations for how their care will turn out.=

        

   • Trigger Point Injections and Dry Needling Treatment

     Trigger Point Injections and Dry Needling Treatment is recommended For non-acute pain that is not going away after six weeks of trying more conventional treatments (such as NSAIDs, progressive aerobic activity, or other activities), trigger point injections may be a viable secondary or tertiary choice.

     Trigger Point Injections and Dry Needling Treatment

     Trigger Point Injections and Dry Needling Treatment are not recommended injections into trigger points to alleviate severe neck discomfort.

     Indications:

      

     • The main goal of trigger point injections is to promote functional improvement.

        

     • Trigger point injections can help with active treatment and stretching of the troubled regions while easing myofascial pain.

        

     • It is not advised to utilize therapeutic injections when not enrolled in an active therapy program or when trying to keep a job.

        

     • Two weeks following each injection, patients should be reevaluated for:

       Enhanced functionality

        

     • A fifty percent pain reduction on the Visual Analog Scale, which is one of the acknowledged pain measures used to quantify temporary and long-term pain alleviation.

        

     • A decrease in the dosage of any prescription analgesics

        

     • Depending on the evaluation and reaction of the patient, medical care should be continued and/or modified.A three-month period should pass after functional improvement.

        

     • A successful outcome (functional improvement) should involve a return to baseline functionality or job responsibilities as well as a discernible betterment I physical activity objectives.

        

     • It is not advised to employ ultrasound or other scanning and imaging tests for trigger point injections.

       Frequency:

        

     • The second round of injections may be justified if there is a partly demonstrable improvement following the first set, but at least four injections each session or more than four sessions 12 months.

        

     • It is advised to space these injections out by not more than three to four weeks.

        

     • Further injections are not advised if there is no subjective or objective betterment at that time.

        

     • Subjective and objective improvements should be connected to repeated injections.

        

     • The second series of injections is appropriate if the first batch’s outcomes are unsatisfactory. Furthermore, ore injections are not advised if there are not at that point any subjective or objective improvements.

        

     • Reasons to stop treatment include improvement, intolerance, or finishing two rounds of injections without a significant impact on the disease.

        

6. Prolotherapy (Sclerotherapy)

   Prolotherapy (Sclerotherapy) is not recommended.

    

7. Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP)

   Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is not recommended.

    

8. Epiduroscopy and Epidural Lysis of Adhesions

   Epiduroscopy and Epidural Lysis of Adhesions are not recommended due to the risk of spinal cord damage, hemorrhage, and dural puncture in the cervical spine.

What our office can do if you have workers compensation Injections: Therapeutic

We have the experience to help you with their workers compensation injuries. We understand what you are going through and will meet your medical needs and follow the guidelines set by the New York State Workers Compensation Board.

We understand the importance of your workers compensation cases. Let us help you navigate through the maze of dealing with the workers compensation insurance company and your employer.

We understand that this is a stressful time for you and your family. If you would like to schedule an appointment, please contact us so we will do everything we can to make it as easy on you as possible.