Dr. Puja Shah recently provided expert commentary in a HealthCentral article about the use of cold and hot treatments for pain:
Ice can also be useful after a procedure such as a steroid epidural, which is used to treat people with severe back pain. “Ice will reduce the inflammation and decrease post-procedural pain and discomfort,” says Puja Shah, M.D., an interventional pain management specialist and anesthesiologist in private practice at DISC Sports & Spine Center in Newport Beach, CA. She typically advises patients to apply ice on and off for about 24 hours after their procedure.
Dr. Puja Shah in HealthCentral