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Abstract
Anaesthetic casenotes of 4700 women who had epidural anaesthesia for deliveries between
1978–1985 were examined to look for associations between various epidural characteristics
and subsequently reported long-term backache. The data on long-term backache came
from a postal questionnaire sent to the women.
The only clear predictor of the occurrence of long-term backache was having experienced
backache immediately after the birth whilst still in hospital. There were no relationships
between long-term backache and the duration of the epidural or various indicators
of the extent of motor or sensory block.
Within the range of local anaesthetic concentration levels used in this series, the
extent of block did not seem to affect backache, but the effect of minimal motor block
with corresponding increased mobility, such as is available with low concentration
anaesthetics mixed with opiates, merits further study.
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References
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Article info
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Copyright
© 1996 Published by Elsevier Inc.
