The injection of epidural corticosteroids is highly common for lower back pain. It has proven to be the “go to” treatment for severe lower back pain, including for women in labor. New research has revealed that steroid injections are not as helpful for easing lower back as doctors suggest. In fact, the ease of pain once a steroid injection is administered is only temporary. The research also suggests that the pain relief provided by steroid injections is not significant enough to continually be considered for the relief of lower back pain.
The study, which was published by the American College of Physicians in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal, illustrates the minimal effects of steroid injection vividly. According to the research, steroid injections are no more effective than any other pain reliever. Recently, Dr. Zack McCormick of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine stated that the continuous use of steroids for relief of lower pack pain by doctors is not treatment at all.
“When you offer a procedure to patients that doesn’t have a lasting benefit and ultimately they may need a definitive treatment; the question is, should we keep offering them this shorter-lived treatment? Unfortunately, there are not a lot of great treatments for these conditions besides surgery, so the options for treatment are limited.”
Instead of the highly popular steroid injection, through a combination of studies, physicians have suggested that people consider surgery. Unlike, corticosteroids, surgery is considered a cure rather than a mere treatment for lower back pain. After gathering over 63 published reports and studies on the effects of steroid injections on lower back pain, Dr. Rodger Chou, Professor of Medicine at Oregon Health and Science University, suggested to Rueters that all avenues of pain relief be explored. These options include surgery.
“These injections may not be as effective as perceived, and decisions should be based on an informed discussion of risks, benefits, and potential options, including surgery, medications and nonpharmacological options like exercise therapy.”
As steroid injections are administered to a reported 800,000 people each year and is often given as a prescription by doctors, experts are considering this abuse of a non-helpful drug. One expert, Terri Lewis, even went so far as to suggest that steroids injection are over priced for no reason at all, because they do not truly ease the pain.
The study which analyzed data of 30 studies involving herniated discs, radiculapathy and spinal stenosis concluded that although steroid injections showed a 60% effectiveness in relieving lower back pain, that relief just was not long enough of strong enough to be considered a treatment.
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Research Suggests Steroid Injections For Lower Back Pain May Be All for Naught is an article from: The Inquisitr News
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