Epidural Injections Bring Only Short-Term Relief for Chronic Back Pain

March 8th, 2007

Epidural steroid injections to treat chronic back pain and sciatica do little to give lasting relief, according to medical researchers in the field of neurology. Back pain is often accompanied with leg pain along the path of the sciatic nerve. Depending on which vertebral disks are involved, sciatica runs down the back or the side of the leg and can be excruciating.

Based on findings of four studies, a group of neurology professionals is advising against use of epidural injections for long-term back pain relief, improving back function, or avoiding surgery.

Patients who received epidural shots had mild improvement in pain for two to six weeks after their injections. Compared with patients who got epidural shots with no medications (placebo injections), the steroids failed to relieve back pain more than the placebo at 24 hours, three months or six months after the treatments.

The neurologists agreed that some pain relief is positive, but they concluded that the results fell short of expectations and are not “clinically meaningful.” Not only did the shots fail to give significant pain relief, they also did not improve the patients’ average back function or help to avoid back surgery.

Study results were recently published in a news release from the American Academy of Neurology. The report indicates that the team of neurologists did not have enough data to evaluate the use of epidural steroid shots for neck pain. Researchers call for more studies of these types of injections for neck and back pain.

Source:  WebMD

Entry Filed under: BACK PAIN,Chronic Pain,CHRONIC PAIN