The term epidural is often short for epidural anesthesia, a form of regional anesthesia involving injection of drugs through a catheter placed into the epidural space. The injection can cause both a loss of sensation (anaesthesia) and a loss of pain (analgesia), by blocking the transmission of signals through nerves in or near the spinal cord. The epidural space (or extradural space or peridural space) is a part of the human spine.

It is the space inside the bony spinal canal but outside the membrane called the dura mater (sometimes called the "dura"). In contact with the inner surface of the dura is another membrane called the arachnoid mater ("arachnoid"). The arachnoid encompasses the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the spinal cord.

Spinal anaesthesia is a technique whereby a local anaesthetic drug is injected into the cerebrospinal fluid. This technique has some similarity to epidural anaesthesia, and the two techniques may be easily confused with each other.

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