Experts have finally ended the debate about steroid shots for the back pain in the new study.
According to HealthDay, researchers in a new guidance from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) revealed that steroid injection may not be effective for certain types of chronic lower back pain.
The lead author of the study, Carmel Armon, said in a press release, “Chronic back pain is common and can negatively impact a person’s quality of life, making it difficult to move, sleep, and participate in daily activities. In our review, studies show epidural steroid injections may have limited efficacy.”
“They may modestly reduce pain in some situations for up to three months and reduce disability for some people for up to six months or more,” he added.
For the study published in the journal Neurology, the researchers analysed the data of 90 studies done in the past 16 years to observe how steroid injections worked for people with back pain due to a pinched nerve (radiculopathy) or narrowed spinal canal (spinal stenosis).
Moreover, co-author of the study Dr. Pushpa Narayanaswami explained, “Our review affirms the limited effectiveness of epidural steroid injections in the short term for some forms of chronic back pain. We found no studies looking at whether repeated treatments are effective or examining the effect of treatment on daily living and returning to work. Future studies should address these gaps.”
The researchers concluded that people who got steroid injections for back pain experienced 24% less pain and 16% less disability for up to 3 months and 12% less disability for 6 months or more as compared to others.
