The Role of Thoracic Medial Branch Blocks in Managing Chronic Mid and Upper Back Pain: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Active-Control Trial with a 2-Year Followup

Table 1

Baseline demographic characteristics.

		Group I (𝑁=50)	Group II (𝑁=50)	P value
Sex	Male	38% (19)	36% (18)	0.836
	Female	62% (31)	64% (32)
Age	Mean ± SD	44.7±11.7	42.8±12.3	0.431
Height (inches)	Mean ± SD	67.5±3.9	65.9±3.9	0.042
Weight (lbs.)	Mean ± SD	197.6±53.2	172.3±37.1	0.007
BMI		30.2±6.6	28.0±3.3	0.079
Duration of pain (months)	Mean ± SD	78.0±68.8	77.0±73.6	0.994
Mode of onset of Pain	Nontraumatic	68% (34)	72% (36)	0.663
	Traumatic	32% (16)	28% (14)
History of previous thoracic surgery		2% (1)	6% (3)	0.617

Group I = bupivacaine only.
Group II = bupivacaine and steroid.