[Therapeutic local anesthesia in acute back pain]

Therapeutic local lidocaine analgesia in the treatment of acute low back pain of functional or degenerative genesis was investigated in 310 patients, with account being taken of additional treatment with NSAIDs. In the overall group, an assessment of the evolution of five typical symptoms revealed response rates of between 85.2% and 91.1% with symptom elimination being achieved in 44.6% to 69.7%. The finger-to-floor test and Schober's sign improved in 87.6% and 81.2% of the patients, respectively. No side effects were observed. In 90 patients (29%), additional treatment, mainly with NSAIDs, was recorded. A comparative analysis of the subgroups with and without additional treatment revealed no evidence of therapy-relevant differences in results that would support the additional administration of NSAIDs. For the treatment of acute low back pain, lidocaine administered alone is adequately effective in most cases, and is well tolerated.