How a salt jab could be more effective for lower back pain than steroids | Mail Online

A saline injection in the spine could be more effective than steroids for treating lower back pain, a new study has revealed. Spinal pain is a leading cause of disability in the industrialised world and epidural steroid injections - the most common nonsurgical treatment - have been the standard treatment for more than 50 years. Yet the alternative spinal injection in the space around the spinal cord may provide better relief than steroids which can have adverse side effects. Steroids raise blood sugar in diabetic back patients, slow the healing of wounds and accelerate bone disease in older women, the Johns Hopkins University study found. Professor of Anaesthesiology Steven Cohen at the U.S. university said: 'Just injecting liquid into the epidural space appears to work. 'This shows us that most of the relief may not be from the steroid, which everyone worries about.' The research was prompted when more than 740 people in 20 U.S. states became ill with fungal meningitis and 55 people died after getting epidural injections of contaminated steroids last year. Although better oversight might reduce that risk, patients can only get a limited number of steroid injections each year, even if their pain returns. Professor Cohen said it was too soon to recommend that patients stop receiving epidural steroids, but added that their analysis also suggests that smaller steroid doses can be just as beneficial. Fellow researcher Dr Mark Bicket said larger scale studie...
Source: Psychology of Pain - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs