Epidural steroid injections found to be effective for a common lower back condition

Good short term benefits, lasting from weeks to months, were experienced by people with spinal stenosis after receiving epidural steroid injections, researchers highlight in Pain Medicine.
Spinal stenosis is when the spinal nerve roots in the lower back become compressed – usually due to the ageing process – producing symptoms of sciatica such as tingling, weakness or numbness that radiates from the lower back and into the buttocks and legs.

A US team looked at lots of methods of injections and steroid choices and found specific epidural steroid injections to be very effective for people with spinal stenosis.

“We feel that interlaminar (between vertebrae) injection, at the worst stenosis level, with long acting steroid is very helpful for spinal stenosis pain, and our case series supports this,” explains co-author Dr Anthony K Savino. “Doing injections the way we propose will help with spinal stenosis pain, making walking easier/better and may help some patients avoid surgery.”

The findings contradict a previously published New England Journal Medicine study that found epidural steroid injections were not helpful in spinal stenosis cases.

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