J Korean Acad Rehabil Med.  1998 Apr;22(2):269-273.

Clinical Analysis on the Efficacy of Epidural Injections in Low Back Pain Patient

• Park YJ
• Kim MJ
• Lee SG

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of epidural injections with steroids and local anesthetics for the low back pain patients. Two hundred fifty patients with low back pain and sciatica were selected for the study. The patients were treated with the epidural injection of steroid(Depo-medrol ) weekly for 2 weeks and local anesthetics(lidocaine and bupivacaine) daily via epidural catheter. The efficacy of epidural injections was assessed with the Visual Analog Scale(VAS) on pre- and 2weeks post-epidural injections. The VAS scores of pre- and post-epidural injections were 6.14+/-2.14 and 3.65+/-1.93(p<0.05) respectively. The VAS scores were not different by the disease subgroups(p>0.05). By the main symptoms, VAS scores were reduced prominently in patients with the pseudoclaudication symptom after post-epidural injections. In conclusion, epidural injections of steroid and local anesthetics are effective for patients with a low back pain and sciatica in the short term. Further prospective long-term follow up studies will be necessary in the future.

Keyword

Epidural injection; Low back pain; Visual analog scale; Steroid; Local anesthetics

MeSH Terms

Anesthetics, Local
Catheters
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Injections, Epidural*
Low Back Pain*
Sciatica
Steroids
Visual Analog Scale
Anesthetics, Local
Steroids