4.6. Follow-ups and outcome assessment (IV and V)

Immediately after the injection, each patient recorded his/her back and leg pain on a paper questionnaire, which was filed separately from the other data. At the follow-up checks (2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after the intervention) the same questionnaires as those at the baseline were completed (NHP was not recorded at 2 weeks). Usually, the same physician performed the patient’s clinical examinations were throughout the follow up assessments. The managing physician decided possible future interventions and documented the clinical status on separate forms filed with the rest of the patient data.

At the 2-week follow-up assessment, the attending physicians were asked to judge which of the two interventions had been used. Their determination was correct in 59% of the saline and 65% of the methylprednisolone-bupivacaine injection cases.