No more spine injections for back pain

Treatments involving spine injections are discouraged for chronic back pain patients as they are no more effective than a fake injection, according to new researcher findings. — Pixabay

Spine injections should not be given to adults with chronic back pain because they provide little or no pain relief compared with sham injections, say a panel of international experts in The BMJ medical journal on Feb 19 (2025).

Their strong recommendations apply to procedures such as epidural steroid injections and nerve blocks for people living with chronic back pain (lasting at least three months) that is not associated with cancer, infection or inflammatory arthritis.