Back Pain With Radiation

This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of interlaminar steroid injections at treating pain in lumbar radiculopathy at varying doses, to evaluate the efficacy of interlaminar steroid injections at improving quality of life and function in lumbar radiculopathy at varying doses, and to evaluate difference in efficacy between triamcinolone and dexamethasone interlaminar steroid injections at treating pain in lumbar radiculopathy at varying doses, with the overarching hypotheses that there is no difference in reported pain reduction, quality of life, or function among patients receiving low, moderate, or high doses, and no difference in reported pain reduction between triamcinolone and dexamethasone.

This will be a placebo controlled, randomized, double-blind, comparative effectiveness study, in which we patients are enrolled during an emergency department (ED) visit for acute radicular low back pain (LBP) and followed by telephone two and seven days later. Patients will be randomized to receive an oral dose of dexamethasone for 2 consecutive days or placebo during an ED visit for acute radicular LBP. Every patient will receive a 7 day supply of ibuprofen and a low back pain education session.