You can apparently add steroid injections to the list of treatments that do not substantially improve back pain. Steroid injections can provide some relief, but it is only temporary. As in, a few weeks to a few months. These injections do nothing to reduce the likelihood of spinal surgery. So says Dr. Roger Chou of the Oregon Health And Sciences University. His new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine looked at the results of thirty studies on the effectiveness of steroid injections. While the injections provided short-term relief for such conditions as sciatica, they did nothing at all for spinal stenosis. So why do steroid injections persist as a treatment? It appears to me that it is because health insurers insist that doctors take all steps short of back surgery. I guess the insurers think that some people will give up and never follow through with back surgery. I have had dozens of clients who ended up getting back surgeries. All of them went down the same path: PT, traction, injections, spinal stimulators–anything save for surgery. When all of the conservative steps fail, the insurer still ends up paying for back surgery. Perhaps this new study will encourage health insurers to stop playing games and get people who need surgery into the OR, Stat!
New Study Shows Steroid Injections No Long-Term Solution To Back Pain.
