Epidural steroid injection does help some forms of back pain but not long-term says new research

People with back pain are often treated with a transforaminal epidural steroid injection but information about if the injection works in the long-term has been lacking.

So a team looked at data from 39 people with back pain due to unilateral lumbar radicular pain from a single level herniated nucleus who were treated with transforaminal epidural steroid injections. They report their findings in The Spine Journal.

“Despite a high success rate at six months, the majority of subjects experienced a recurrence of symptoms at some time during the subsequent five years,” the group explains. “Fortunately, few reported current symptoms and a small minority required additional injections, surgery or opioid pain medications.”

So lumbar disc herniation is a disease that can be effectively treated in the short-term by transforaminal epidural steroid injections, but long-term recurrence rates are high.

Click here to read the original research.

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