Accessibility Statement Skip Navigation
  • Why PRWeb
  • How It Works
  • Who Uses It
  • Pricing
  • Login
  • GDPR
  • Create a Free Account
Return to PRWeb homepage
  • News
  • Resources
  • Contact
When typing in this field, a list of search results will appear and be automatically updated as you type.

Searching for your content...

No results found. Please change your search terms and try again.
  • News in Focus
      • Browse News Releases

      • All News Releases
      • Multimedia Gallery

      • All Multimedia
      • All Photos
      • All Videos
  • Business & Money
      • Auto & Transportation

      • Aerospace, Defense
      • Air Freight
      • Airlines & Aviation
      • Automotive
      • Maritime & Shipbuilding
      • Railroads and Intermodal Transportation
      • Supply Chain/Logistics
      • Transportation, Trucking & Railroad
      • Travel
      • Trucking and Road Transportation
      • View All Auto & Transportation

      • Business Technology

      • Blockchain
      • Broadcast Tech
      • Computer & Electronics
      • Computer Hardware
      • Computer Software
      • Data Analytics
      • Electronic Commerce
      • Electronic Components
      • Electronic Design Automation
      • Financial Technology
      • High Tech Security
      • Internet Technology
      • Nanotechnology
      • Networks
      • Peripherals
      • Semiconductors
      • View All Business Technology

      • Entertain­ment & Media

      • Advertising
      • Art
      • Books
      • Entertainment
      • Film and Motion Picture
      • Magazines
      • Music
      • Publishing & Information Services
      • Radio & Podcast
      • Television
      • View All Entertain­ment & Media

      • Financial Services & Investing

      • Accounting News & Issues
      • Acquisitions, Mergers and Takeovers
      • Banking & Financial Services
      • Bankruptcy
      • Bond & Stock Ratings
      • Conference Call Announcements
      • Contracts
      • Cryptocurrency
      • Dividends
      • Earnings
      • Earnings Forecasts & Projections
      • Financing Agreements
      • Insurance
      • Investments Opinions
      • Joint Ventures
      • Mutual Funds
      • Private Placement
      • Real Estate
      • Restructuring & Recapitalization
      • Sales Reports
      • Shareholder Activism
      • Shareholder Meetings
      • Stock Offering
      • Stock Split
      • Venture Capital
      • View All Financial Services & Investing

      • General Business

      • Awards
      • Commercial Real Estate
      • Corporate Expansion
      • Earnings
      • Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
      • Human Resource & Workforce Management
      • Licensing
      • New Products & Services
      • Obituaries
      • Outsourcing Businesses
      • Overseas Real Estate (non-US)
      • Personnel Announcements
      • Real Estate Transactions
      • Residential Real Estate
      • Small Business Services
      • Socially Responsible Investing
      • Surveys, Polls and Research
      • Trade Show News
      • View All General Business

  • Science & Tech
      • Consumer Technology

      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Blockchain
      • Cloud Computing/Internet of Things
      • Computer Electronics
      • Computer Hardware
      • Computer Software
      • Consumer Electronics
      • Cryptocurrency
      • Data Analytics
      • Electronic Commerce
      • Electronic Gaming
      • Financial Technology
      • Mobile Entertainment
      • Multimedia & Internet
      • Peripherals
      • Social Media
      • STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Math)
      • Supply Chain/Logistics
      • Wireless Communications
      • View All Consumer Technology

      • Energy & Natural Resources

      • Alternative Energies
      • Chemical
      • Electrical Utilities
      • Gas
      • General Manufacturing
      • Mining
      • Mining & Metals
      • Oil & Energy
      • Oil and Gas Discoveries
      • Utilities
      • Water Utilities
      • View All Energy & Natural Resources

      • Environ­ment

      • Conservation & Recycling
      • Environmental Issues
      • Environmental Policy
      • Environmental Products & Services
      • Green Technology
      • Natural Disasters
      • View All Environ­ment

      • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

      • Aerospace & Defense
      • Agriculture
      • Chemical
      • Construction & Building
      • General Manufacturing
      • HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning)
      • Machinery
      • Machine Tools, Metalworking and Metallurgy
      • Mining
      • Mining & Metals
      • Paper, Forest Products & Containers
      • Precious Metals
      • Textiles
      • Tobacco
      • View All Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

      • Telecomm­unications

      • Carriers and Services
      • Mobile Entertainment
      • Networks
      • Peripherals
      • Telecommunications Equipment
      • Telecommunications Industry
      • VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
      • Wireless Communications
      • View All Telecomm­unications

  • Lifestyle & Health
      • Consumer Products & Retail

      • Animals & Pets
      • Beers, Wines and Spirits
      • Beverages
      • Bridal Services
      • Cannabis
      • Cosmetics and Personal Care
      • Fashion
      • Food & Beverages
      • Furniture and Furnishings
      • Home Improvement
      • Household, Consumer & Cosmetics
      • Household Products
      • Jewelry
      • Non-Alcoholic Beverages
      • Office Products
      • Organic Food
      • Product Recalls
      • Restaurants
      • Retail
      • Supermarkets
      • Toys
      • View All Consumer Products & Retail

      • Entertain­ment & Media

      • Advertising
      • Art
      • Books
      • Entertainment
      • Film and Motion Picture
      • Magazines
      • Music
      • Publishing & Information Services
      • Radio & Podcast
      • Television
      • View All Entertain­ment & Media

      • Health

      • Biometrics
      • Biotechnology
      • Clinical Trials & Medical Discoveries
      • Dentistry
      • FDA Approval
      • Fitness/Wellness
      • Health Care & Hospitals
      • Health Insurance
      • Infection Control
      • International Medical Approval
      • Medical Equipment
      • Medical Pharmaceuticals
      • Mental Health
      • Pharmaceuticals
      • Supplementary Medicine
      • View All Health

      • Sports

      • General Sports
      • Outdoors, Camping & Hiking
      • Sporting Events
      • Sports Equipment & Accessories
      • View All Sports

      • Travel

      • Amusement Parks and Tourist Attractions
      • Gambling & Casinos
      • Hotels and Resorts
      • Leisure & Tourism
      • Outdoors, Camping & Hiking
      • Passenger Aviation
      • Travel Industry
      • View All Travel

  • Policy & Public Interest
      • Policy & Public Interest

      • Advocacy Group Opinion
      • Animal Welfare
      • Congressional & Presidential Campaigns
      • Corporate Social Responsibility
      • Domestic Policy
      • Economic News, Trends, Analysis
      • Education
      • Environmental
      • European Government
      • FDA Approval
      • Federal and State Legislation
      • Federal Executive Branch & Agency
      • Foreign Policy & International Affairs
      • Homeland Security
      • Labor & Union
      • Legal Issues
      • Natural Disasters
      • Not For Profit
      • Patent Law
      • Public Safety
      • Trade Policy
      • U.S. State Policy
      • View All Policy & Public Interest

  • People & Culture
      • People & Culture

      • Aboriginal, First Nations & Native American
      • African American
      • Asian American
      • Children
      • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
      • Hispanic
      • Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual
      • Men's Interest
      • People with Disabilities
      • Religion
      • Senior Citizens
      • Veterans
      • Women
      • View All People & Culture

  • Hamburger menu
  • Cision PRWeb provides efficient communication tools to continuously engage with target audiences across multiple online channels
  • Create a Free Account
    • ALL CONTACT INFO
    • Contact Us


      11AM ET Sunday – 8PM ET Friday

  • Send a Release
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Resources
  • RSS
  • GDPR
  • News in Focus
    • Browse All News
    • Multimedia Gallery
  • Business & Money
    • Auto & Transportation
    • Business Technology
    • Entertain­ment & Media
    • Financial Services & Investing
    • General Business
  • Science & Tech
    • Consumer Technology
    • Energy & Natural Resources
    • Environ­ment
    • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing
    • Telecomm­unications
  • Lifestyle & Health
    • Consumer Products & Retail
    • Entertain­ment & Media
    • Health
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Policy & Public Interest
  • People & Culture
    • People & Culture
  • Send a Release
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Resources
  • RSS
  • GDPR
  • Send a Release
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Resources
  • RSS
  • GDPR
  • Send a Release
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Resources
  • RSS
  • GDPR

Arizona Pain Responds to Recent Criticism of Epidural Steroid Injections for Back Pain
  • USA - English


News provided by

Arizona Pain

Jul 08, 2014, 07:00 ET

Share this article

Share toX

Share this article

Share toX


Scottsdale, AZ. July 5, 2014 (PRWEB) July 08, 2014 -- Dr. Paul Lynch, M.D., co-founder of Arizona Pain, the Premier Pain Management Clinic in the Phoenix area, (http://www.arizonapain.com), has responded to recent reports of a study concerning the efficacy of epidural steroid injections for back pain.

The conclusions we can draw from this study to guide future treatments are severely limited by the use of anesthetic injections in the control group. In other words, this study cannot show that either treatment is no better than injecting nothing at all

Post this

The study, published by Dr. Janna Friedly in the New England Journal of Medicine, examined the use of epidural steroid injections for moderate to severe central canal spinal stenosis (1). Lynch calls the study “incredibly flawed,” and believes that it may lead to denial of care for many people that suffer from low back pain.

“There are several points that I would like to address concerning this study,” says Dr. Lynch.

“The study examined the use of epidural steroid injections for the specific condition of moderate to severe central canal spinal stenosis, which is a severe diagnosis. Patients with this condition are typically not the best candidate for epidural injections, and many patients with this condition need surgery. We typically do epidural steroid injections for conditions other than severe spinal stenosis – such as bulging discs or some other disc pathology, before surgery is necessary,” he adds.

In the study, Dr. Friedly chose to use lidocaine as the ‘control’ substance for her injections.
According to Lynch, it has been established for many years that injecting lidocaine into the epidural space can decrease pain by washing out inflammatory mediators.

“When epidural injections were first invented by anesthesiologists, it was done with lidocaine only, as they found this could make sciatica go away,” says Lynch. “Years later, research suggested that mixing steroids with lidocaine was more effective. Either way, this study shows that epidural injections are efficacious whether done with injecting steroid or lidocaine and steroid.”

According to Dr. Ted Swing, Research Director at Arizona Pain, anesthetic injections without steroids were the standard treatment for this type of back pain until the 1950s, when steroid injections became the preferred treatment. Dr. Swing suggested that comparing two potentially helpful treatments “might reveal if one treatment is better than the other, but cannot be used to justify the conclusion that one or both treatments were ineffective.”

“The conclusions we can draw from this study to guide future treatments are severely limited by the use of anesthetic injections in the control group. In other words, this study cannot show that either treatment is no better than injecting nothing at all,” says Swing.

Dr. Swing went on to say the study did find that epidural steroid injections resulted in a 27% reduction in disability and a 39% reduction in leg pain after 6 weeks, compared to a 20% reduction in disability and 36% reduction in leg pain for anesthetic injections.

“These are potentially substantial improvements,” says Swing. “Unsurprisingly, the study found that epidural steroid injections were generally more effective than anesthetic injections, though the depending on the time point and outcome examined, this difference did not always reach statistical significance,” add Swing.

Patients receiving the injections also reported greater satisfaction with their treatment than those receiving anesthetic injections alone. Friedly’s study also showed that the average pain actually decreased from 7.3 to 4.0 in the group that got steroids in addition to lidocaine.

Dr. Tory McJunkin, Lynch’s co-founding partner at Arizona Pain, also weighed in on the study, saying “I have a lot of patients that would love to see their pain go from 7.3 to a 4,” he says. “However, seventy-five percent of the patients in this study received interlaminar injections instead of transforaminal injections, even though the literature is very clear that transforaminal injections work better – and this has been proven in multiple large trials,” he states.

McJunkin also points out that this study involved only one or two injections instead of the recommended series of three performed in the interlaminar space (when transforaminal is recommended); Yet, the study still showed almost 50% pain relief.

Dr. Lynch suggests that the final problem with this study concerns the possibility of insurance companies using this case to deny care to patients who actually need an epidural steroid injection.

“I'm shocked it was published in the first place and more shocked at the media’s spin on the story thus far,” says Dr. Lynch. “When a patient is a qualified candidate for an epidural steroid injection, comprehensive care should be provided in addition,” says Dr. Lynch. “For those who do not qualify for an epidural steroid injection, or for those who prefer not to receive one, we offer numerous other comprehensive and alternative treatment options that are highly effective for treating chronic back pain as well, and we have seen great success with the most severe cases of chronic back pain.”

For more information on Arizona Pain’s many treatments for chronic pain, visit ArizonaPain.com

About Arizona Pain:
The team at Arizona Pain works together to provide relief for various types of chronic pain – including back, neck, facial, joint, hip, and cancer pain, as well as other ailments. These specialists work with one mission in mind: “To change lives by delivering world-class pain management care that we would want for our own mom and dad.” Dr. Tory McJunkin and Dr. Paul Lynch founded Arizona Pain to specialize in pain medicine after a close family member battled severe pain. Arizona Pain remains passionate about treating those who suffer from chronic pain – with the ultimate goal of providing hope and restoring life. For more information on Arizona Pain, or to make an appointment to see one of Arizona Pain's top Pain Management Specialists, visit: http://www.ArizonaPain.com

1. Friedly JL, Comstock BA, Turner JA, et al. A randomized trial of epidural glucocorticoid injections for spinal stenosis. N Engl J Med.2014 Jul 3;371:11-21. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1313265) http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1313265

Kristen Wesley, Arizona Pain, http://ArizonaPain, +1 708-807-0047, [email protected]

Modal title

Contact PRWeb

  • 11AM ET Sunday – 8PM ET Friday
  • Contact Us

About PRWeb

  • About PRWeb
  • Partners
  • Partnership Programs
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Resources

Why PRWeb

  • Why PRWeb
  • How It Works
  • Who Uses It
  • Pricing

Accounts

  • Create a Free Account
  • Log in
  • Contact Us

Do not sell or share my personal information:

  • Submit via [email protected] 
  • Call Privacy toll-free: 877-297-8921

Contact Cision

Products

About

My Services
  • All News Releases
  • Online Member Center
  • ProfNet
Cision Distribution Helpline
888-776-0942
  • Legal
  • Site Map
  • RSS
  • Cookie Settings
Copyright © 2025 Cision US Inc.