Injections with salt water cure backache

Researchers from US Johns Hopkins University found that injections of an ordinary saline solution may be as effective in the treatment of pain in the lower back, as steroids. Furthermore, this treatment does not have much adverse effect.

pain in the lower back

Currently, most doctors prescribe for treatment pain in the lower back   epidural steroid injections used in this case more than 50 years. This type of drug is sufficiently effective, it gives relief to the suffering of patients, but also increases the level of blood sugar in diabetics by slowing the healing of wounds. Moreover, steroids are also accelerated bone disease in older women.

And now at the disposal of physicians may appear a good alternative to steroid injections, also has no side effects. American scientists tested the technique of injection of saline solution, which showed very high efficiency. Refusal of steroid injections is particularly relevant in the United States. Last year, 740 patients are infected and 55 have died from injections of steroids infected with fungal meningitis.

The authors of the new technique say that the doctors it is too early to completely abandon steroid injections to treat pain in the lower back . However, their doses can be significantly reduced by replacing a certain amount of brine that also need to stick to the area around the spinal cord.

These data suggest that the improvement in painful symptoms in these patients is not only due to the steroids itself, but also conventional fluid injected into the epidural space of the spine. Previously, scientists thought this "placebo effect", but now researchers believe that the saline solution may be considered a full treatment. (READ MORE)

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