Quality of Life in Thai Patients with Low Back Pain Undergoing Epidural Steroid Injection

The purpose of this research was to describe and compare pain, functional ability, and quality of life before and after epidural steroid injection (ESI) in patients with low back pain. The subjects included 25 patients with low back pain at the orthopaedics operating room, Police General Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. They were selected by purposive sampling. Data were collected from December2014 to February 2015. The instruments used included the Numeric Rating Scale to measure pain score, the Modified Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire (Modified ODQ) to measure the functional ability, and the WHOQOL-BRIEF–THAI to measure quality of life. Data were analyzed in terms of descriptive statistics, inferential statistics including one factor repeated measure ANOVA, and McNemar’s test. Findings of this study showed that after epidural steroid injection (ESI) at one and four weeks, the subjects’ pain scores significantly decreased. In addition, the subjects’ functional ability after ESI was significantly higher than that before ESI. The quality of life of the subjects also significantly increased after ESI. Findings of the study revealed the effect of ESI on pain reduction, functional ability improvement, and promotion of quality of life in persons with low back pain, and provided useful data to guide healthcare service of patients with low back pain.