A 2007 study noted that 59 percent of patients had a higher walking tolerance six weeks after an epidural. This should get you on track to getting back to your regular routine after the injection. Repeat this process during the first day of recovery. Sit or lie down and rest for about half an hour, then walk around for about 5-10 minutes. Part of the recovery from an epidural is walking slowly. Remember that staying active can reduce your back pain by 10 to 50 percent. While you want to take it easy after an epidural, do not take this to an extreme. It also includes indirect heat, such as in a sauna or an extremely hot shower. This includes direct heat like a heat pack. You can evaluate when you feel okay to exercise.ĭon’t apply heat to the injection site for at least 72 hours (three days) after the epidural. Don’t drive or operate other machinery for a full 24 hours after the epidural.ĭon’t drink any alcohol for a full 24 hours after the injection.ĭon’t exercise or conduct any rigorous activity for at least 24 hours after the epidural. This is due to a combination of impaired reflexes and numbness. In addition to waiting a little to walk, there are some other things you can’t do right after an epidural. Take it slow, and make sure you don’t walk too much right away. Right after the epidural, you will have to be careful when walking. They will help you decide if it is safe for you to walk. Once you have feeling in your legs, let the medical team know. This can last for up to several hours, but it can be less. You may feel numbness in your legs after an epidural. The most important factor for when you can walk will be numbness. Based on their experience, the medical team will let you know when it is safe to try walking. They may also ask you to move your legs around. Most clinics and hospitals monitor you for 15 minutes to an hour after an epidural injection.ĭuring this time, they will likely ask how you feel. However, you will not necessarily be walking normally at this point. Most of the time, you can walk within a half hour or so of your epidural injection. After an epidural injection, you will need some time to recover, and it is common to wonder what this involves. Posted at 16:52h in Epidural Injection by adminĭuring an epidural, your spine surgeon injects a steroid into the epidural space in your spine, possibly with a numbing agent and/or saline solution.

Epidural after effects