Pilot RCT of Efficacy of Perineural Local Anesthetics and Steroids for Chronic Post-traumatic Ankle and Foot Pain
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2017-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Injections of local anesthetics (freezing) and steroids are often performed around injured
nerves in individuals with nerve injury-related pain. The current standard of medical care is
to inject a combination of local anesthetics and steroids around injured nerves, but there is
no proof that this is better than injecting only local anesthetic, or even just sterile salt
water. There is evidence to believe that injection of local anesthetic (without the steroid)
can calm the injured nerve, and provide pain relief from a few days up to a few months.
Injection of sterile salt water also has the potential to provide pain relief by breaking
scar tissue around the nerve, thereby relieving compression. The aim of this study is to
compare pain relief and possible adverse effects from these three different treatments for
foot and ankle nerve pain relief.
All 30 participants will be recruited over 9 months from the Altum Health clinic at Toronto
Western Hospital. 10 participants will be randomly assigned to each treatment. Each patient
will receive 3 injections over 3 weeks or so. Participants will have an in-clinic follow-up
at 1 month after the last injection, and a phone follow-up 3 months after the last injection.
This is a small-scale study, and information obtained from this study will help in planning
and conduct of a larger study with more participants. The larger study will help determine
the best possible option for injection in patients with nerve-related injury pain.