Corticosteroid Injections

0%

Improve with treatment

40%

Improve with control

40%

Do not Improve

What does improve mean?

An example of a 30% reduction in pain scores is a decrease from 6 to 4 on a 10 point pain scale

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

How many people will improve?

40%

Improvement by treatment or placebo

40%

No Improvement

Corticosteroid Injections Harms

Non-specific Headache (Not Significant)
3.3%
3.7% (placebo)
Transient Headache (Not Significant)
26.9%
20.00% (placebo)
Accidental Dural Puncture (Not Significant)
1.3%
1.3% (placebo)

Other Considerations

  • Generally need a referral in order to access treatment.

Looking for further details?

Low Back Pain

Why doesn’t this calculator cover all treatment options available?

This online calculator does not cover all treatment options available for low back pain. We only included the medication treatments that had the highest quality evidence. A healthcare provider may consider other options not listed in this calculator to manage symptoms, depending on specific needs.

Where can I find the evidence used to create this calculator?

The data used for this calculator can be found within the Chronic Back Pain Systematic Review

Additional tools created with this data can be found at Chronic Low Back Pain Decision Aid