Steroid Injections Linked To Increased Bone Loss

Bone density loss after six monthsMigraine Care Review was six times greater when compared to the typical bone density loss seen in a year in a postmenopausal woman who doesn't receive a steroid injection, researchers say. Patients who choose this treatment option are at an increased risk for painful hip fractures. Patients who receive multiple injections are at an even greater risk.

Back pain is one of the most common medical conditions in the United States affecting 8 out of 10 people at some time in their lives. Unfortunately, the current medical treatment routine includes treatments that are either ineffective or worse creating more harm than good as is the case with these steroid injections. Doctors should exercise caution when recommending an epidural steroid injection for their patients suffering from back pain or sciatica.

Currently, the typical approach to treatment includes pain medications and anti-inflammatories. If these fail, doctors are quick to recommend an epidural injection. Often the results of the injections are less than favorable and this leads to surgery.

Other studies have shown epidural injections for back pain and / or sciatica are not effective and don't change the need for more invasive procedures in the future nor do they accomplish much in terms of long term pain relief. Despite this, doctors continue to recommend them.

One patient in my clinic recently began a more natural treatment regimen known as non-surgical spinal decompression after her own failed steroid injection at another clinic. The promise of "quick pain relief" from the injection was short lived. I fact, she reported only one day of relief before the pain returned back to its original levels. Now, less than a third of the way into the spinal decompression treatment, she is already experiencing relief.


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