Study: Prednisone not as effective against sciatica as thought

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Doctors often prescribe steroid pills to ease the pain of sciatica, but a new study finds steroids may not be as effective as once thought.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at a common oral steroid medication and its effectiveness in decreasing pain and improving function for patients with a herniated disc.

Two-thirds of the patients studied received prednisone and the other third got a placebo.

Researchers found people got no better with the prednisone than they did with the placebo.