How Good Are Epidural Steroid Injections?

[EricS]

Surgery is usually the last resort in the treatment of chronic back pain, used when all other options have been exhausted. One of the non-surgical options providing pain relief is epidural steroid injections.

But how effective are these injections? In a report, the American Academy of Neurology in association with a number of medical schools has thrown up some interesting facts. The salient points of these findings are:

* Epidural steroid injections show some improvement in chronic low back pain conditions, marked by pain radiating down the hips and legs, between 2 and 6 weeks of injection.

* However, these injections do not -

# provide long term pain relief beyond 3 months,
# improve the functioning of lower back, or
# obviate the need for surgery.

Therefore regular use of these injections cannot be recommended.

* There is a shortage of well-designed placebo-controlled studies (as opposed to uncontrolled clinical observations or case studies) to conclusively comment on the efficacy of epidural steroid injections in radicular low back pain.

Finally, though rare, a number of side effects ranging from headaches to increased pain and even meningitis and spinal hematoma have been reported in the aftermath of these injections.

[admin]

Have you had a steroid injection for backpain, then let us know how it worked for you, and how long the effects lasted.

It's great to share with everyone else who visits this forum.

[Leeann]

First, I've been to 3 pain clinics in an effort to relieve chronic, intractable spinal pain. Each pain clinic INSISTED that I have epidural steroid injections even tho none of the previous injections did me ONE lick of good!!! And I found out why ~ These doctors get $1,500.00 for injecting this stuff in your body. That is why they insist on a series of injections ~ whether you need them or not!!! i have talked to hundreds of people about steroid injections and 95% of them said they did NOT work. Yet their doctors insisted that they HAD to have them. This is what I call malpractice ~ and GREED. They've forgotten their Hippocratic Oath - "First Do No Harm."

[BP4MS]

Leeann, thanks for sharing your experience. IT's always good to know what folks have found that works.....or doesn't work.

The one friend I know that had a steroid injection for his back said that it provided some relief, although it didn't last for too long.

For the other folks you know that have had them please encourage them to write about their experiences on here.

[Leeann]

Whether or not I can get them to come here or not, I can't say. The forum where THEY are is http://www.braintalkcommunities.org They're either at Chronic pain or Spinal disorders. These groups are pretty tight and normally don't go to other forums, but I'll ask them.