Study Warns Against Spine Injections for Chronic Back Pain

New Delhi: A recent international study has strongly advised against the use of spine injections for chronic back pain, stating that they offer little to no pain relief compared to placebo treatments. Published in The BMJ, the study involved researchers and patients from Canada, the US, and Australia, who concluded that epidural steroid injections and nerve blocks should not be recommended for individuals suffering from chronic back pain unrelated to cancer, infection, or inflammatory arthritis.

Chronic back pain is a leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting approximately one in five adults between the ages of 20 and 59, with older adults being particularly vulnerable. Many patients undergo procedures such as epidural steroid injections, nerve blocks, and radiofrequency ablation—techniques designed to block pain signals from reaching the brain. However, existing medical guidelines have been inconsistent in their recommendations regarding these interventions.

To address this uncertainty, the research team analyzed the effectiveness and risks of 13 commonly used interventional procedures for chronic, non-cancer-related spine pain. These included injections of local anesthetics, steroids, or their combination, as well as epidural injections and radiofrequency ablation. Their findings were based on systematic reviews of randomized trials and observational studies assessing these treatments against sham procedures.

The study found no high-certainty evidence supporting the effectiveness of any of these procedures. Instead, the available low to moderate certainty evidence suggested that spine injections provided no meaningful relief for either axial pain (localized spinal pain) or radicular pain (pain radiating to the arms or legs) compared to placebo treatments.

Researchers emphasized that these procedures are not only ineffective but also impose financial burdens on patients while carrying a small risk of complications. Given these findings, the team issued a strong recommendation against their use, urging healthcare providers and patients to reconsider opting for these treatments.

The authors concluded that alternative approaches should be prioritized for managing chronic back pain, highlighting the need for non-invasive, evidence-based treatments to improve patient outcomes.