Do Lower Spine Injections Improve Outcomes for Lower Back Pain Patients

University of Florida30 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this project is to determine the effect of lower back injections on select biomechanical outcomes, walking patterns, lower back flexibility and balance.

The purpose of this project is to determine the effect of lumbar injections on select biomechanics parameters; walking pattern, lumbar flexibility and balance. The surveys will help assess the patient's sense of functional ability and feeling of wellness compared with low back pain scores. The long terms goals of this project will be to elucidate the mechanism of action of injections and to improve identification of patients that are likely to benefit from injection therapy

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Low Back Pain

Interventions

Observation of biomechanical effects post injectionOTHER

Observation of effects on gait, lumbar spine range of motion and pain symptoms immediately following injection and at two weeks post injection

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 90 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * diagnosis of lumbar spine stenosis * receiving lumbar epidural injection * age 18-90 years * BMI \<35kg/m2 * walking unaided Exclusion Criteria: * age \<18 or \>90 years * BMI \>35 kg/m2 * severely impaired intellectual capacity * medications that could impact balance * dementia, or other neurodegenerative diseases that would preclude appropriate cognitive or physical ability to perform study protocol

Locations (2)

Shands Rehabilitation Hospital

Gainesville, Florida, United States

UF&Shands Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Institute

Gainesville, Florida, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Determine the immediate biomechanical effect in patients that receive a lumbar epidural injection

We hypothesize that patients will demonstrate increased gait velocity, increased step length, decreased asymmetry and increased lumbar ROM immediately after injection compared to pre-injection

Time frame: Immediately following injection

Secondary Outcomes

Determine the short-term biomechanical effect in patients that receive a lumbar epidural injection

We hypothesize that patients will demonstrate increased gait velocity, increased step length, decreased asymmetry and increased lumbar ROM 2 weeks after injection compared with pre- and post-injection time points

Time frame: Two weeks following injection

Determine the relationship between biomechanical status before injection and short-term pain reduction

We hypothesize that those patients with moderate biomechanical limitation before injection (e.g., higher gait velocity, higher step length, lower asymmetry, and greater lumbar ROM) will have greater positive biomechanical response than patients who demonstrate severe biomechanical limitation pre-injection. This response to the injection will be measured by the changes in gait and lumbar spine range of motion and pain symptoms with these activities at 2 weeks after the injection

Time frame: Two weeks following injection

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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