Steroid injections do not benefit spine patients

According to researchers at the Rothman institute, spine patients who received epidural steroid injections before surgery are not any better off than those who did not receive this injection. This goes against the hypothesis that mentioned that this procedure helped patients who were suffering from spine problems. It was mentioned that patients who went through this procedure were less likely to be operated upon and will have an easier time compared to those who did not have this procedure done on them. The study hypotheses that patients who received ESI would have improved rates of spine problems but this was not the case even after the studies were commenced and finished. Patients who went thought surgery after receiving ESI did not have less body pain compared to their counterparts who did not go through the process.  They still needed surgery treatment and statistics proved that they were less likely to receive surgery compared to patients who did not go through these treatments. ESI patients stayed longer in the hospitals and have a higher chance of being operated upon compared to patients who did not go through ESI. This is very conflicting according to the hypotheses that had been laid down before this study was conducted. Overall patients who received ESI did not have any improvement more than those who received this ESI procedure and did not avoid surgery any more compared to other patients. The idea of using steroids was to strengthen the nerves of the spine to reduce the chances of surgery in spine patients. However, this has been proved wrong with the studies and continues to be proved wrong. The use of steroids in medicine is not only in the management of spinal diseases but can also be used in the management of muscle wasting diseases and anemia. However the balance between positive results and potentially hazardous results needs to be considered. For example, while  steroids can be medically prescribed for the treatment of patients suffering from AIDS and other muscle wasting diseases, it is upon the discretion of the doctor to determine if the specific case will lead to more harm than good, e.g. if it will lead to addiction problems. In some cases, patients who are suffering from liver problems and those who have hypertension will not be prescribed with steroids even when they are likely to help them in the building of their muscles. The same is the case in patients who are suffering from anemia since steroids can be used in the management of anemia. Anabolic steroids will increase the number of red blood cells in the body of the users and but the patients are likely to be addicted to steroids and lead to further side effects that will harm the users.