Researchers in the study, which appeared in the latest issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, tested 84 adults who experience back pain in the last six months. Participants received one of three injections given two weeks apart: steroids, etanercept or a placebo saline solution.

All three groups reported a decrease in leg and back pain. Steroids may provide a short-term analgesic effect, researchers said, but the patients' overall improvement was mainly due to normal healing.

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