I’ve been told that steroid injection into my spinal joints could help relieve me of some of my back pain. I’m not really in favor of it. My husband says it can’t hurt and maybe it will help. What do you think?

There are mixed opinions on this one. Some experts say the treatment is actually a diagnostic test of its own. If your pain is eliminated, then you know the source of painful signals is the facet spinal joint. If it’s not successful, then you’re no worse off than you were when you started.

Others disagree. They see no reason to continue with facet joint injections since studies have shown it’s not effective in relieving pain or improving function. Just because something doesn’t make you worse doesn’t mean it should be used.

Current back pain guidelines suggest the use of over-the-counter analgesics such as Tylenol or Ibuprofen. Non-drug therapies such as exercise and spinal manipulation are the next treatment approaches to consider.

Surgery has been shown to help relieve pain sooner but the long-term effects are the same. In other words, two years later, patients report the same outcome whether or not they had surgery. That is enough to suggest managing the pain and avoiding invasive operative care until the worst is over.