Anybody had a cortisone injection in their spine? - Page 2

Definitely exhaust your other options before you get a discectomy, especially with a degenerative rather than traumatic problem. It's a serious surgery, with significantly less than 100% chance of improvement. I'm three years out from mine and I still have stiffness in my back occasionally.

Disintegrating = the walls are starting to break down and the insides (try to think of it as a jelly donut) are beginning to leak. Here's a visual example:





Now the top image shows the stages of degeneration. But degeneration and prolapse can both be "bulges" because they are allowing the disc material to expand, thus shrinking the disc space. The bottom shows the difference between a bulge and a herniation.

How developed are your abdominal muscles? I have been told that really helps.

If the main symptoms are in your leg and buttock, its the nerve.
if the main symptoms are just in your back, it could be the nerve or the facet joint.

An injection into the appropriate nerve(s) or joint(s) will work quite nicely.

Cortisone only lasts a few months in effect, but often its enough to break the cycle of compression --> irritation --> swelling --> more compression --> etc etc especially with concomittant physiotherapy

see, I told you it wouldn't be bad. yeah, that nerve touch pain is when people say they felt like there was electricity coursing through them, now you can say "uh, no you don't"