Corticosteroid Injections for Chronic Low Back Pain

To the Editor: Carette et al. recently reported their study of the use of injections of corticosteroids into facet joints for the treatment of chronic low back pain (Oct. 3 issue). 1 Although the authors should be commended for undertaking this type of study of a difficult clinical problem, we think that their methods are questionable and their conclusions incorrect. The criteria used to select patients for the study probably allowed the entry of patients who were not likely to benefit from such a specific intervention. The assumption that a 50 percent reduction in back pain after a diagnostic injection of . . .