I thought anyone with Arachnoiditis Syndrome would be interested to see these findings.
In Friendship Kath Findlay
The UK Adhesion Society
No association between epidurals during labour and long-term back pain exists, according to UK researchers.
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-- Dr Charlotte Howell and colleagues at Keele University investigated long-term differences in self-reported and objective measures of low back pain between women who had received epidural pain relief and those who had received other forms of pain relief while in labour.They studied 306 women - 151 who had received epidurals and 155 from a "non-epidural" group.
Physiotherapists recorded self-reported low back pain, disability and limitation of movement through one-to-one interviews, written questionnaires and a physical measurement of spinal mobility.
The Staffordshire-based team found no significant differences in the onset or duration of low back pain between the two groups, with nearly a third of the women in each group reporting pain in the week before interview.
In addition, they found no evidence of greater disability in carrying out activities of daily living or in the measurements of spinal mobility among those who had received an epidural.
And, although more of the women in the epidural group reported severe pain, those who had not had an epidural reported pain lasting more than one year, persistent pain and recent pain.
"After childbirth there are no differences in the incidence of long-term low back pain, disability or movement restriction between women who receive epidural pain relief and women who receive other forms of pain relief," says the study.
Around 100,000 women in the UK each year have an epidural and, although several studies in the past have looked at the procedure's association with back pain, the findings have been inconsistent.
Source: British Medical Journal, August 17, 2002
C Health Media Ltd 2002 http://www.health-news.co.uk